Born to Die
by SF Geronimo
Summary: "Nothing is so strong as gentleness. Nothing is so gentle as real strength." What if Sakura wasn't so different from her boys, what if she had an ugly past to? Orochimaru? Madara? potential Mizukage? I have only one question - do you believe in dragons?
1. Everything has to start Somewhere

Born To Die

Chapter One: In for the ride of a life time

"Friends are like the stars; they are always there, but you only see their true brightness at the darkest times." ~Jeremy Arnold

**Disclaimer: **I do not, nor will I ever own Naruto!

**Authors note:** Hey peeps!

So this is a re-write of my story the last garudian. In case you don't notice by the end I have started it way earlier and added anko in because she and sakura are kick-ass together! Please review and tell me if this is better!

Here is the link to my deviant page where you can find kemuri's pic and a pic of Neji and Sakura just hanging out!

.com/art/Kemuri-no-Kage-the-Nin-Horse-of-Konoha-280229736

"**Sakura." **

"No, not now!" I groaned unconsciously, trying desperately to cling to the last shreds of sleep.

"**Sakura…"** I wanted to cover my ears so bad, but that meant getting up so I settled for attempting to ignore my inner's annoying voice.

"Inner, please I'm trying to sleep!" I growled back, chucking an imaginary pillow at my inner self angrily.

"**Alright, But Anko is stealing all the Dango again."** Inner said, snickering in her little corner of my sub-conscious.

"HELL NO!" I screeched back, mind instantly running circles.

Well that did it; over my dead body was that Jounin going to get my special breakfast Dango- again! My eyes quickly flew open as I shot up in my bed just in time to see a seemingly harmless pillow fly straight at me but I knew my Anko-sensie better than that.

"Nice try!" I taunted, expertly catching the pillow to reveal a hidden kunai that would've surely cracked my pretty little skull had it hit. Anko grinned at me with pride, and I returned the grin in its overly cocky form- the smug.

"Well, since you took SO long to get up I ate your breakfast Dango just to let you know." Anko said, and she wasn't kidding.

"**Told Ya so."** Inner said, of course piping in just when I need her as always- not.

"GRRR! ANKO-SENSIE! YOUR GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" I screeched, jumping from the bed to tackle my Guardian/Big sister figure/Sensei in a Dango-deprived fit. Of course, she just sidestepped it and I crashed through the wall for the umpteenth time as she laughed hysterically.

"HAHAAH! Sakura, save it for the Training grounds okay?" Anko said, pulling me from my half stuck position in the plaster walls. I glared playfully at her as she dusted the plaster dust off of my pajamas and then grabbed my arm dragging me toward the door.

I let Anko drag me to who know where as I slipped into my memories. It was only about three years ago that something happened and I lost all of my memory. The only things I remembered were my name, some Juutsu (but I didn't tell anyone that) and age. Somehow I had found my way into Konoha and was discovered lying on a stone bench and was taken to the Hokage, where I met Anko.

* * *

><p>I stood inside the Hokage's office, shivering with fear because I didn't know anything anymore. Suddenly someone pounded on the door, causing me to practically jump up with anxiety.<p>

The Hokage shot me a worrisome glance before motioning the guards to open the door, "Come in.," he said gruffly.

I peeked through my eyelashes to see the craziest looking lady I had ever seen! She had this kind of creepy grin, and a pastel shade of rose quartz for eyes, but best of all she had crazy colored hair just like me! It was purple!

The lady stepped up to the Hokage, "Hey gramps! What did ya want?" she asked casually, earning a groan from the Hokage.

I giggled quietly at this and then noticed that the lady was staring right at me. I shrunk back into my chair, hiding behind the cover of my pink bangs. "Whoa! Check it!" She exclaimed in an excited voice causing me to look up right into her eyes.

"Hey kid, that's some pretty bad-ass hair you got there!" she said, smiling at me with a big goofy grin. I giggled for a moment before brushing my bangs out of the way.

"Thanks miss, I like your hair too! I've never seen anyone else with funny colored hair other than me before." I said, slowly getting braver as I earned a wider grin from the lady.

"Alright! Anko's the name squirt, what's yours?" I smiled nervously for a moment before remembering my name.

"Oh, Sakura." I muttered shyly, watching her with calculated eyes.

The Lady sprung up from her crouching position to face the Hokage, "So gramps what's the kid doing here?" She asked.

"We found her on a bench near the outer walls, she suffered from memory loss and only knows her name and age. We are currently trying to find a foster home for her Anko." The Hokage replied, shooting me a warm grin before returning his eyes to the lady who I guessed was named Anko. She seemed to be in deep thought for a moment before a huge grin spread on her face.

"I know! I'll take the kid for ya!" my head shot up immediately, and I stared at Anko with eyes the size of grapefruits. How could she take me in so readily?

The Hokage eyed Anko warily for a moment before smiling, "Alright Anko, you may become the guardian of Sakura if you wish." He said.

Anko grinned broadly at me before saying, "But, I'm gonna need to test you first okay kid?" She asked, and I sensed a slightly evil tone in her voice but nonetheless I nodded slowly and got up from my chair.

"Good, now Summoning Juutsu: Snakes!" She yelled out causing me to immediately jump back about ten feet as I took on a low crouching stance. I had no idea how I knew what I was doing but what I did know was there was a huge snake coming right at me and that I absolutely hated snakes.

"**AHH! Crazy lady! Crazy lady! Do something!"** Screeched a tiny voice inside my head, and I nodded slowly watching as the snake grew ever closer before doing something that I did remember.

"Crystal style! Crystal Imprisonment wave Juutsu!" I yelled out, watching as the snake instantly froze where it was and became covered in a thick layer of crystal before shattering to pieces. I glanced nervously over at Anko and the Hokage who both looked at me like I had grown an extra arm or something.

"**Oh Kami, what did we do this time?"** squeaked my inner voice, earning a trembling nod from me as I watched the two for about five minutes. None of us moving other than daring to breathe.

"HOT DAMN KID!" Screamed Anko, causing me to fall backwards off of the chair I was precariously perched on. I poked my head up from behind the couch to watch Anko with questioning eyes as her own sparkled with excitement.

"**Okay, I give. I'm lost."** My inner groaned, and I couldn't help but agree with this new voice inside my head.

"Wow! That was pretty darn good pinky, your definitely coming with me!" Anko said, grabbing me from behind the couch as I gazed up at her with hopeful eyes. For the first time since I had lost my memory, things began to feel right, they began to finally make sense.

"Alright Anko, you'll be taking care of Sakura and training her to be a ninja I assume?" The Hokage asked, watching me with amused eyes as I felt my breath hitch in my throat.

"**NINJA! NINJA! WE'RE GONNA BE A NINJA! NINNY-NINNY-NINJA! CHA!" **Inner squealed, fist-pumping the air in her sub-conscious realm.

And I couldn't help but blurt out, "HECK YES! I'm going to be a ninja!" before promptly clasping my hands over my mouth to prevent any further outbreaks.

Anko started laughing up a fit before dragging me out the door, but she turned around to the Hokage before we left, "A ninja for sure. Pinky's gonna be one Kick-Ass Kionochi!" Anko yelled back proudly, and I blushed a little before following her down the hall and onto a new adventure.

But I didn't hear the Hokage sigh with content before mumbling; "I have no doubt she will be Anko, and maybe she can be the one to help bring peace back to the shinobi world. One can only hope."

* * *

><p>I sighed contentedly as I snapped back out of my daydreaming, my skin tingling with the constant tiny pinpricks of wind that flew by us.<p>

"Hey Anko-Sensie?" I asked, not bothering to resist my guardian's crazy arm-dragging antics as she pulled me out of the house at kami knows how early in the morning.

"Ya Pinky?" She teased, grinning back at me before continuing to drag me across Konoha. Anko was the ONLY and I mean ONLY one who was allowed to call me pinky, other than that the name was nails on a chalkboard for me and I fully intend to make anyone and everyone who calls me that suffer- kami she's rubbing off on me.

"Where exactly are we going at…. 2:30 IN THE MORNING!" I said, more like shrieked the last part. Geez, I know that Anko always got me up early to train but this was ridiculous!

Suddenly she stopped in front of me causing my face to smash into her back like a ball to its paddle. "Ha-ha! We are here to get you your new Ninja clothes Pinky! Wait, oh my gosh you forgot what today was didn't you!" She laughed, slapping her knees as she curled over in a fit of laughter. I felt my left eyebrow begin to twitch violently but I held it together because throwing a complete fit would only give her something else to laugh about.

"Umm, Someone's birthday?"

"Nope."

"New holiday?"

"Guess again."

"Old holiday?"

"Getting colder."

"Ugh, Christmas?"

"…"

"**I'm embarrassed to call you my outer."** Inner groaned before I shot her one of my famous 'creepy glares' that Anko had taught me.

I smiled sheepishly and then threw my hands up in defeat, "Alright I give up! What is it?" I cried, practically glomping onto Anko who now had an evil grin on her face. Not good, definitely not good.

I sighed, "Alright what do you want?" I asked knowing now I had made a huge mistake, one thing you should know about Anko is that she will use just about anything against you.

Anko grinned evilly, "Dango, one week if you lose todays spar if you win then I'll teach you a new Juutsu." Anko said, crossing her arms with a triumphant hmph.

"Fine! Now tell me what the hell is going on today!" I begged, staring the Dango eating Anko down to make sure she held up her end of the bargain.

"Silly Pinky! Your getting your Genin teams today remember!" You have no idea how stupid I felt in that moment, how the heck could I forget something I had trained so hard to achieve!

I felt the blush crawl up onto my cheeks as I scratched the back of my head in my classic 'sakura's made a fool of herself again' move. But thankfully the inky blackness of the night hid all of that as Anko once again seized my arms and hauled me into the only open ninja outfitters to get my super awesome new ninja outfit!

"**Now we can finally get a new outfit that'll show off our hot bods! Cha!"** Inner said gleefully, punching the air for added effect.

I just glared at my perverted alter ego hard hoping that she would burst into flames, but I only succeeded in scaring her back into her little corner of my sub-conscious. Good enough.

The minute we entered the store Anko began grabbing anything and everything she thought was cool off the racks and thrust them in my face, shoeing me off to the dressing room immediately. I pleaded with kami as I rummaged through the pile that whatever I found would leave me with at least a shred of dignity after the catwalk.

I think for once, Kami heard me because after hopelessly digging in the pile of mis-matched clothes Anko picked out I turned around to go tell her to try again when I found it. It was perfect for me!

"**Hell yes!"** Inner squealed and for once I agreed with her as I began to put on the outfit.

"_Huh, well whattdaya know."_ I thought to myself as I admired the ninja attire that fit my 9 year old body perfectly. My new outfit consisted of loose pants that ran till just below my knees and were tied off with red braided thread. The pants themselves weren't baggy but they weren't skintight either, kind of like tenten's only mine were a pitch black and were a hell of a lot more comfortable than TenTen's trust me I had to wear hers one day. Next I wore a black fishnet top that reached almost to my elbows. Over that I wore I deep crimson half top without sleeves that cut off right below my ribcage and a low cut-collar. Lastly I wore my prized dragon skin gloves, I don't know where I got them but I had been told they were the last in existence. That was nice and all But what really mattered was how well they worked!

"**Damn! We look good! And it's functional! CHA!"** inner said, whistling a little before I shot her a dirty glare.

"HEY SAKURA! You almost done in there?" Anko called, obviously anxious to spar so she could win her weeks worth of Dango. Kami, she's worse than Naruto.

"Coming!" I hollered back gathering up my old clothes as I ran out to her. Oh yeah, and I don't wear shoes, I don't really know why but since I happened to have a natural ability to use Crystal moves I like to be able to feel the earth beneath my feet.

"Damn Sakura, that looks perfect on you!" Anko said as she glanced up and down at my new ninja attire a small smile tugging on her lips. Score!

Anko finished paying for my new clothes and then we raced to our favorite training grounds that conveniently happened to be at the top of the Hokage Mountains. I loved how we were never disturbed up there, no nosy teams, and no squealing kids. Hell, even the Anbu sent their messages by animal for fear they would catch us at our strongest.

"Oi! Anko-sensei that's cheating!" I called out angrily as we raced up the mountain; we were neck and neck until a certain Dango-eating mentor used her summoning snakes to literally carry her up the mountain. I have come to hate snakes with a fiery passion after four years of living with that woman, and I mean HATE those sad excuses for an oversized earthworm.

Anko looked back at me and laughed, "Well you've got a summoning animal too! Call him!" She teased, but I knew that Anko knew if I called my summon I could go to Suna and back before she would reach the top of that mountain.

I smirked, oh how my sensei would regret that suggestion, "Alright fine I will!" Quickly I made the hand seal for horse but instead of drawing blood like every other summon required I simply brought my fingers to my mouth and let out a loud whistle that rang clear through the dusky morning air. I flashed Anko with a 'see you at the top' grin before winking as I saw the familiar tan blur come bursting through the forest, and I eagerly pushed off the ground to mount him and was at the top of the Hokage monument in seconds.

"Damn horse, got to be so F****** flashy all the time with his F****** speed and-" I stared wide-eyed at Anko as she spoke with a very colorful vocabulary that I hadn't heard in a long time- damn she really wanted her Dango.

I quickly spared my 'summon' a nin-horse, Kemuri a surprised glance before he snorted in disgust, "Oi! Anko the kids eight years old! Wait until she is a genin at least!" Kemuri said, speaking through the mind so that we might understand his otherwise pointless neighs as well.

Anko shot Kemuri a dirty glance before regaining her typical _full of it_ composure and turning to me, "Alright kid, we got exactly four hours before the academy requires us to be there so that means the next 3 hours and 59 minutes are gonna be hell, Ya got that?" Anko asked, but horrifyingly there was no sarcasm dripping form my mentor whose mental stability I was now beginning to question.

"Bring it." I retorted with my typical answer that translated into a normal persons dialect meant 'what are we going to do today sensei.' Kemuri rolled his eyes at what he would dub my 'childish actions' but I am 8 so I am technically a kid right?

"Alright Pinky, today we are going to work on a little something I'd like to call the 'bell test'" Her eyes glinted with revenge as I groaned, not this stupid test I hated the damn thing! All she did was tie a couple of stupid bells at her waist as I tried IN VAIN to get them.

"Hai, Anko-Sensei." I forced out, readying myself in my signature battle stance, my well-trained eyes immediately trained on her every move. Not one hair quivered without me noticing it, and then she struck.

* * *

><p>"Wow *pant* Sakura, you actually *pant* get a bell *pant* this time." Anko-sensei said as she leaned on her knees for support against fatigue. I smiled weakly, even though I had managed to snag a bell I somehow still ended up being the one on the ground completely exhausted, how Anko managed to make that happen I guess I'll never know.<p>

"Hey, did good today huh kid?" Kemuri said, picking me up by shirt before propping me up against him and lending me some of his chakra.

I rolled my eyes at him before punching him lightly in the shoulder, "Look who's finally showed up huh pony boy?" I teased, and laughed when he pinned his ears back in an irritated manor at my nickname.

"HEY!" Anko screamed, causing me to jerk my head around to where she was standing so fast that I probably gave myself a good case of whiplash.

"And, since you finally managed to get a bell from me pinky it means you need more weights!" Kami how I wanted to strangle Anko there and then with that smug little grin on her face, but that wouldn't end very well so I just settled for a groan and death stare instead.

Kemuri was snorting and grunting while trying to suppress his laughter, "Cork it pony boy." I growled before slapping his hindquarters with a little more force than needed, but hey revenge is sweet.

"Alright Sakura, you might want to sit down for this." Anko said with that kind of creepy smile that just screams 'run while you still can!' but of course I complied sinking to the ground with a heavy thud before holding out my wrists.

"WHAT THE HELL!" I shrieked in pain as both wrists suddenly plummeted to the ground, successfully creating a half-foot hole in the hard ground. I grunted a little before glaring darkly at Anko who was completley oblivious to this and began laughing uncontrollably- again.

"What the- Anko-sensei how much weight did you add to me?" I questioned while trying in vain to lift up a wrist again, and was able to get it maybe four inches out of the half-foot crater it was stuck in.

"Eh-" she said while rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "about 30pounds, why?" that women was E-V-I-L I tell you. I just continued glaring at Anko while she added another metal band to each ankle, hoping that maybe she would burst into flames but of course that didn't happen.

Anko got up and then dusted off her hands, obviously proud of her work. A little to proud in my opinion. "All right kid, we got about fifteen minutes to be at the academy so lets get a move on huh?" she said smugly.

My eyes flew wide open, "WHAT! Only fifteen minutes? Grrr, Anko-Sensei you truly are evil aren't you?" I growled, desperately trying to get to my feet. Of course, I only managed to stand up about half way before falling down and landing in the dirt with a deep '_thud_'.

Anko started grunting with laughter again as Kemuri just sighed and sweat dropped, "Oi, Anko your more immature than the kid is." He snorted, rolling his eyes at my sensei in a disapproving manor and Anko only stuck her tongue back out at him only proving his point.

I groaned at my teacher and companions predictable bickering.

"**Hey, Outer Idiot!"** Inner screamed practically making it an insta-migraine day.

_"What?_" I yelled back, trying as hard as I could to make my annoying inner shut up.

"**Remember what Anko said a while back? Oh, of course you don't."** She teased and I only stared with a bored expression back.

Inner threw her hands up in defeat, **"Alright fine, Anko said that when you became a genin you could take Kemuri to class with you."** I stared back at my inner in shock, this might have been the first time in my life she didn't give me a useless piece of information or some perverted comment.

I grinned darkly at Anko who tensed up, because I only grinned like that when I had found some equally deceitful plan of revenge or something like that. "Alright pinky, what is it?" She asked me in an 'I know something's up' tone.

"Remember my first week of the academy when I asked if I could take pony boy with me?" I replied, eyes lighting up with victory as Anko groaned a little. Kemuri looked at me with surprise for a minute before averting his eyes to Anko and smiling with that 'she got you good' grin.

Anko's frown turned into a proud and pissed smile, "Okay pinky ya got me. You can go ahead and take the ass with you to class today." She said, throwing Kemuri a triumphant smile before poofing off to the academy.

I giggled at Kemuri's pissed off expression before sending some chakra to my legs and arms, willing them to move so I could stand. "Hah, I don't think you're an ass pony boy." I said, smiling as my companion moved to stand beside me.

He smiled at my before nipping at my hair, "Thanks, I feel so loved." He said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as I pumped even more chakra into my feet and propelled myself onto his back.

"Most of the time." I whispered in his ear, laughing as he snorted before bursting into a run towards the academy.

(1 min. later)

"HEY! Pony boy stop we're here!" I shouted, pulling back on Kemuri's pitch-black silky mane frantically as we neared the academy. Geez, at the pace he was moving he would've missed the academy and been out of Konoha in less than a minute.

I gripped Kemuri tightly as he slid to a stop, the smell of burning metal wafting up from his feet. "Sorry kiddo, I've never been in the city before so I don't really know where everything is." He said sheepishly to me, nickering a laugh as horses do.

"Well maybe if you weren't burning rubber, or iron for that matter you would've seen it." I spat back, waving my hand in front of my face to try and dissipate the fumes of Kemuri's metal shoes that doubled as weights.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" I knew who that was, unmistakably, undeniably-

"Naruto! Nice to see you." I said sweetly, urging Kemuri around to face my crazy fox-ified friend. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and I cocked an eyebrow at his gaping mouth.

"Naruto, your going to catch flies If you keep your mouth open like that." I deadpanned. Kemuri snorted with laughter at my comment and I eyed him, _"be nice pony boy."_ I hissed my warning mentally to him as I dismounted swiftly, landing on the ground heavily because of the added weight and groaning.

"Hey forehead whats-!" And as if on cue, where you find insults or gossip you'll find Ino. I looked back over my shoulder to find Ino walking toward me with a confused expression on her face.

I smiled toward my other blond friend, waving slightly. "Hey Ino-pig! Excited?" I asked, hoping to draw attention away from my massive 8-foot tall ride.

Ya, that worked real well. "-Up. Ya sure forehead. Who's the donkey?" She asked bluntly, completely oblivious to the fuming chakra that Kemuri was radiating by now. Oh yes, that would be Ino all right.

Kemuri pinned his ears back, "Huh, I'm a nin-horse not a donkey for your information pig, Lucky for you sakura told me that putting her friends in the hospital wasn't a good thing." He said dangerously to Ino through telepathy, making sure to snort a little with triumph. I then promptly elbowed Kemuri in the thigh-hard.

"Hey! Pony boy I never said that!" I yelled loudly while Kemuri shot me a hurt smile. Ino laughed a little while Naruto continued to stand there with that totally lost look on his face, and that wasn't anything weird.

"Um, I'll explain later okay Naruto?" I said sheepishly, scratching me head a little before pointing to Kemuri.

Naruto blankly stared at me for a minute before flashing me with his typical goofy grin, "Alright then Sakur-chan!" I sighed, Naruto may not be smart enough to understand any connection I might have with a nin-horse but he is smart enough to know when to drop a conversation.

I looked at Ino then Kemuri and then Naruto and we all just laughed for no reason, I seemed to have that effect on people at times.

"Hn, get to class dobe." But then he showed up, and I immediately felt my anger rise.

"**Look who just walked in! Uchiha!" **Inner stated as I snarled menacingly toward Sasuke, making sure he felt my feral '_if I have to look at your ugly-ass face one second longer I'll rip you to shreds!_' chakra.

"_Sure whatever, but any chance of him being remotely attractive is nullified by his total asshole Uchiha attitude.'_ I spat back to my inner who pouted in response.

Sasuke and I had what you might call a 'barely able to restrain killing-intent' relationship. He always acted like such an ass all the time, strutting around with the bad-boy attitude that he thinks just came with the title 'Uchiha'. He thinks that just because his clan was murdered and he is all 'I'm out on a mission to kill my big bro so outta my way.' That I'm going to shrink back like an abused puppy and make way for king Sasuke!

HELL NO! More like sas-gay if you ask me, but anyway growing up under the tutelage of miss 'I rule the world' Anko didn't come off with nothing. I had become very strong (although I was told specifically NOT to show it), well mannered, but I could sure have an attitude! And the one thing I did not stand for was Snot-nosed brats thinking they are better than me without earning the title, he had no idea what hell I had been through.

"Shut up teme!" Naruto shouted back, waving his fist for emphasis. I glared menacingly at Sasuke, backing up Naruto's rage with my own. Kemuri glanced down and noticed the killing intent written all over my face.

"Ah, so you must be the famous Uchiha Sasuke." Kemuri said politely, earning an equally deadly glare from me and an interested expression from Sasuke. Damn his soul.

"Hn." He replied, typical Sasuke.

Ino squealed hysterically like the fan-girl she was and I fake-barfed in response, disgusting those fan-girls are. The whole lot of them.

Kemuri snorted a chuckle, "Typical Uchiha, one of few words no? Sakura has told me much about you." I glared at Kemuri with an '_I'm going to kill you!'_ look on my face.

Sasuke smirked, "Aa, really now?" he inquired evilly, sounding alarm bells in my mind that just screamed '_Revenge! Revenge!_

"Yes, she did. She mentioned how you were an arrogant, selfish, sulking bastard who walked around like a loner all the time and I certainly agree." Oh snap! He did not just say that! Oh wait he did! And how revenge is sweet may I tell you.

**"Damn."** Inner said, her jaw resting on the ground.

I had never seen Sasuke so, so-surprised? -No. Poned, Ego-deprived? –Yes! Naruto and I couldn't help but start laughing uncontrollably, and Naruto eventually dropped to the ground rolling around like a child in hysterics. Ino just glared at me like I was some sort of repulsive little bug, to which I returned the glare ten-fold and Kemuri snorted in victory.

"Wow!" Suddenly Anko's chakra caught my attention and I whirled around to the doors of the academy to see my crazy Dango-dreary sensei standing there. "Gee Kemuri I never knew you could be so… blunt." She said sarcastically before poofing over next to me.

Anko smiled and ruffled my fuchsia hair, "What's up pinky?" she asked me energetically before glancing around at the pissed off Ino, shocked Uchiha, and dying uzamaki before shooting me a 'what the-?" look.

I giggled softly before whispering in her ear what happened and she laughed too, "Kami Pinky! Cut the poor boy a break would ya?" she teased and I stuck my tongue back out at her childishly.

Ino, Sasuke and Naruto (who had just recovered from one hell of a side cramp) stared at me with questioning gazes and I sighed. "Everyone this is-"

"Anko's the name maggots! And you better remember it!" Anko yelled, successfully introducing herself in that manor that just screamed '_I just escaped from the insane asylum!' _

I watched as Ino and Naruto sweat dropped and Sasuke just walked inside to pout, typical. "-Anko sensei." I finished off, watching with glee as Anko gave them her typical creepy smile.

Kemuri whinnied with laughter before nibbling at my hair a little, "Hey kiddo, I've got to go but ill be back soon alright?" he asked me, and then gave me the eyes! Oh gosh, that was the horse's secret weapon were those eyes! He could make you do just about anything with them, like mind control it was creepy!

I smiled as he flickered away, and then turned back to Anko. "Alright squirts, you've got three seconds to haul your butts inside before I kick em' in! Got it?" She said, smirking as about twenty kids ran like their lives depended on it into the academy.

All except for me, "See you after class?" I asked, grinning as Anko nodded back to me and then poofed away in a purple haze. I quickly then ran into the academy, taking my seat between Konoha's number one knuckleheaded ninja and the weapons mistress herself, Tenten.

"Hey Sakura!" Tenten whispered to me as I plopped down next to her.

I smiled back, "What's up Tennies? Here to watch me get my team?" I asked, watching as her eyes lit up with surprise at my prediction. Tenten was one of my 'gal pals', but she wasn't all girly like Ino or Hinata, she was more like me. Tomboy, cool, tough, fierce all words you could use to describe the two of us and that was just the way I liked it.

"YES! How could I not be here for you?" she giggled back, muffling her girlish sounds with a hand as I rolled my eyes.

"Um, if there was a sale at the weapons store downtown." I teased back, watching as she once again tried desperately to quiet her laughter in her sleeve.

Tenten gave me a once over before pointing to my new outfit, "Hey Sakura, awesome outfit! See you finally gave in to the power of pants, ne?" She asked, taking in every detail of my new ninja clothes as I smiled.

I grinned back at her proudly, "Yup, never been so comfy in my life!" I made my customary 'sakura move', its when I tighten one glove with a badass look on my face and it's the move everyone knows me by.

Suddenly Iruka-sensei walked into the room and Tenten and I snapped back to attention, although she really didn't have to seeing as how she didn't get any grades from here. "Alright Class! Eyes on the wise and powerful Iruka-Sensei!" Oi Kami, please deflate his ego before it kills someone.

I glanced around the room to see any shinobi I recognized and of course found many. I spotted Naruto, Sasuke (bleh), Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Chooji, Ino, Neji, Lee, and Tenten In the room as well as some other shinobi not important enough for me to mention.

"**OH, I hope Sasuke is on our team! As long as he is nice though."** Inner squealed with delight. Kami she makes me sick.

"_NO! No, no, no, no, no! We Do NOT want that asshole on our team got it inner?"_ I growled back, glaring at my alter ego with anger.

Inner threw her hands up in defense, **"Geez! Fine, then who do you want on the team?**" She spat back, earning an even more heated glare from me.

"_Well… I'd like to have Shikamaru on the team, or Kiba, or Naruto, and maybe even Ino."_ I said, thinking about what the pros and cons of having a lazy ass, dog boy, ramen addicted child, and bratty blond on my team would be.

"Alright Class!" Iruka-Sensei said, snapping me out of my momentary argument with inner. "Today you will be receiving your Genin Teams so listen up!" I silently reached for Naruto and TenTen's hand, quietly snaking my fingers around theirs.

I watched as time itself seemed to run in slow motion, "Team One …" I watched as three students got up and left the room, and felt as my heart began to crash against my rib cage violently.

"Team two… Team Three… Team four… Team five." Iruka read slowly from the list, oh-so slowly. I felt my palms begin to sweat a little, as Naruto seemed to be holding on to them for dear life.

"Team six…" I felt my breath catch a little, this next team had to be mine! I don't think I could've waited any longer for that damn ninja to just read my name already!

Iruka-sensei looked down at the list and I saw his mouth turn into a devious smile, directed right at me. I gulped a bit of nervous saliva down my throat hastily and closed my eyes, "Team Seven… Sakura Haruno…"

"**Thank KAMI! FINALLY!" **Inner screeched, throwing her arms up with relief as I breathed out, glad to be released from my threshold of anxiety.

"_You could say that again inner."_ I whispered sub-consciously before returning my attention to the room.

" Naruto Uzamaki…" I felt my heart jump a little as I looked over to Naruto who had jumped up out of his seat, standing on top of his desk with his typical goofy grin

"YA! I'm on the same team as sakura-Chan! Believe it!" He yelled, fist-pumping the air for emphasis before I grabbed his pant leg and pulled him back down to earth, shooting him a _'I'm happy too but you don't see me dancing around like a ramen-high ass do you?'_

Naruto blushed a little before looking at Iruka sensei who sweat dropped, "And finally Sasuke Uchiha. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." I felt my world shatter like a glass mirror, every little piece scattering around into oblivion as I heard those two deadly words.

"Hell no, he did not! Just say that!" I growled angrily before shooting Sasuke a warning glare and he smirked back. I felt my blood boil as I stomped out of the room, and hoped that there would be no witnesses when I had to kill the Uchiha boy and spare the world of his ass-hole attitude.

* * *

><p>"IT'S BEEN TWO HOURS!" Naruto whined, fidgeting around in his desk impatiently as I successfully obliterated my 56th pencil.<p>

"Shut up dobe." Sasuke deadpanned, quietly sulking in his desk that was as far away as it could possibly be from ours. Oh yes, this team was going to work out beautifully!

Suddenly Naruto got up out of his desk and grabbed some erasers, propping them up carefully on the door so when it opened said unlucky victim would be showered in a cloud of chalk-dust.

"Really Naruto?" I asked boredly, raising a questioning eyebrow at him while he snickered.

"This outta teach Sensei for being late." Naruto said, hopping down off of a desk to quickly scramble back to his barely able to contain his laughter.

Inner and I simultaneously sweat-dropped, **"Oi, what have we gotten ourselves into."** She groaned earning a disappointed nod from me.

"Hn, Dobe our sensei is a Jounin-level ninja. He wouldn't be fooled by something as stupid as your little prank." Sasuke said blandly, and I couldn't help but agree with the chicken-ass haired Uchiha for once.

But, as if to prove us wrong a Silver-Haired Ninja walked in the room, "Hey kids, sorry I'm late I was on my way when a lady-" Thunk, and voila! Instant chalk-covered Sensei!

Naruto started laughing hysterically as I snorted quietly to myself, and Sasuke just face-palmed causing me to lose it and start laughing as well.

"My first impression of you- I hate you." The Jounin said before poofing away. I was easily able to trace his chakra to the roof and I sighed, did he really think we were that unskilled?

As if to prove my point Naruto sprung to his feet and started looking around frantically, "Uh, Where did sensei go?"

I looked to Sasuke and was surprised to see him as clueless as Naruto, oh kami help me now! I sighed before pointing up at the ceiling and muttering "Noobs."

I then formed a couple of hand seals and poofed away in a shower of crystalline dust leaving a very shocked Uchiha and confused Uzamaki to find their way to the roof.

When I arrived I noticed that the Jounins one eye was slightly widened in surprise causing me to face-palm in annoyance. "You know." I said turning to him. "I would think since you're a Jounin and all that you would know by now not to underestimate your enemies." I glanced down only to find him reading a little orange book.

"**Icha Icha paradise? What the hell we got a pervy sensei!"** Inner growled before throwing a complete fit in my sub-conscious, causing me to groan and send the little bit of medical knowledge I knew to my fingers and release some cooling green chakra to my throbbing brain.

"Okay Kemuri, you owe me from saving your sorry ass last week." I mumbled, forming the hand seal for horse and then whistling loudly, drawing the attention of our Sensei and the boys who had finally decided to show up.

"What the-" Naruto started before I tackled the both of them to the ground quickly just as a tan blur came soaring in over our heads and skidding to a stop.

"Nice Entrance you asshole! You almost made pancakes out of my new team!" I shouted angrily, getting up and dusting myself off before storming over to Kemuri and shooting him with a pissed-off look.

Kemuri smiled sheepishly before nibbling on my hair a little, "Sorry kiddo, it seemed like you needed me urgently so i came." I sighed and glanced around at the expressions of my teammates, Naruto's face was lighting up with remembrance of our earlier meeting, Sasuke was scowling and Sensei had a 'what the hell?' look on his eye.

Kemuri nodded to Naruto and snorted at Sasuke before turning around and sizing up Sensei, "Ah, and Kakashi Hatake. It is nice to finally meet your acquaintance." Kemuri said politely as I felt my jaw hit the floor.

"Uhh, I'm confused here? How do you know him?" Naruto asked bluntly, suddenly appearing between me and the eight-foot tall beast I called a nin-horse. Kakashi stood studying Kemuri for a moment, and Kemuri the same.

Finally after what seemed like forever Kakashi's one eye brightened up a little, "A nin-horse huh?" he asked in an amused tone causing my left eyebrow to twitch- violently. It was almost like he would've never believed that I could have a nin-horse as my summon at the simple rank of genin, granted I had never seen another nin-horse other than Kemuri but he had assured me there were plenty of others.

"Damn Straight! Why? Surprised a little genin has a nin-horse as her summon?" I growled angrily, shooting Kakashi-sensei with an intimidating glare before swinging up onto Kemuri possessively.

Then he started laughing, laughing! Oh kami he was writing out his own death sentence right there and then, but Kemuri sent a calming wave of chakra to me telling me that if I killed him now I wouldn't know the answer to his giggles. "No, No it's not that. It's just no one has seen a nin-horse in this country for about 10 years." Kakashi said bluntly, rising in eyebrow in victory as I blushed madly with embarrassment.

I glanced at Naruto who clearly had not followed a thing that had happened and then to Sasuke who just looked forward with cold eyes *shiver*. Kakashi cleared his throat before addressing the rest of the team, "Alright then. How about we introduce ourselves."

"Why don't you show us huh? We don't know you!" Naruto shouted, waving a slightly angry fist at Kakashi-sensei for some reason that was beyond the grasp of my eight year old mind.

Sasuke snorted a little only to have Kemuri emit an even bigger snort, like a challenge before I promptly kicked him in the gut and watch Kakashi-Sensei with interested eyes.

"Me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi." He started.

"**Ya, we got that genius."** My inner groaned, causing me to roll my eyes.

"I don't feel like talking about my likes and dislikes. My dreams are my business only. I have a lot of hobbies, but none that are any of your concern." He said, quietly looking over us with an observant eye.

I watched Naruto pout like a two year old without his blanket, "Hey wait a minute! All we learned was your name!" Naruto growled angrily, narrowing his glare on our silver-haired sensei who only cocked an eyebrow in response as if to say 'and your point is?'

Kakashi-Sensei quickly pointed his finger at Naruto who jumped a little, "You, Blondie go!" he barked.

"Umm well okay. My name is Uzamaki Naruto, I like Sakura-Chan *insert blush* Iruka-Sensei, and Instant Ramen. I dislike Sasuke-Teme and the three minutes it takes to make instant ramen. My hobbies are pranking, and hanging out with Sakura-Chan and my dream is to become the Hokage one day! Be-"

"Believe it?" I questioned sarcastically, finishing Naruto's oh-so predictable train of thought for him.

"**We spend way to much time with him."** Inner said, slowly pounding her head repeatedly against a wall in her un-conscious realm as I snickered quietly.

_"True, True."_ i said quietly to inner, _"But then again, i think that some complete hobo off the street would know what naruto was about to say after spending five god damn minutes with the boy."_ Inner laughed and nodded in agreement before i returned to the conversation at hand.

Kakashi-Sensei sweat dropped slightly before turning to point his finger at the Uchiha, "Alright then, you! Go!"

Sasuke groaned, "I'm Uchiha Sasuke, I don't like much of anything but I dislike a lot. My hobbies are none of your concern and dreams are for dobe's. But I do have a goal and that is to restore my clan and kill a certain someone." It was one of those awkward silence moments after that.

I coughed slightly, "Uh, Sadistic much Chicken-ass?" I grunted, earning a roaring laugh from Naruto, intrigued looks from Kemuri and Kakashi and one very pissed-off scowling Uchiha.

"Hn." He mumbled, turning away from the group to sulk-again.

Kemuri turned his neck around to nibble on my bare toes slightly, "Hey kid, I think it's your turn." He said, nodding his head toward the rest of the already introduced group.

"No-Duh Pony boy." I deadpanned before smiling sheepishly to Kakashi-Sensei.

"Hey, my name is Sakura. I like Dango, hanging out with Naruto and Tenten, running with Pony boy, and training with Anko-Sensie." Kakashi's eye flew wide open as I said this, but I shot him a '_save it'_ glare.

"I dislike moping boys with hair styled like a chicken's ass *cue glaring Uchiha*, people who think I'm weak just because of my size, or hair or anything else. My hobbies are battling with Anko-Sensei, spending time with Pony boy, customizing kunai with Tenten and training with her team and making crystal studs." I felt Kemuri shiver underneath me as I said 'crystal studs' long story short about 2 years back I accidentally be-dazzled him instead of Ino's custom kunai.

"My dream is to one day discover my past, help bring peace to the shinobi world and to protect my teammates in battle!" I said proudly, puffing out my chest a little for emphasis as Kemuri groaned.

"**Even if they are total assholes." **Inner added, causing me to snicker out loud on accident. I felt Kakashi's stare practically burning holes in the back of my head but I ignored it and instead focused on braiding Kemuri mane.

But I had a pretty damn good idea of what he was thinking, _"Kami what did I do wrong? Seriously, out of all the possible student combination I get the kyuubi container (ill explain later how I know that) the Uchiha brat, and some girl who somehow summons a nin-horse and has survived Anko-Chan's tutelage?"_

" Alright then I think we know each other well enough!" Kakashi-Sensei said, earning a sigh of relief from Naruto.

"Meet tomorrow at the practice field at eight o' clock got it? Bring all your tools and weapons and don't eat breakfast." Kakashi said.

"Does he count as a tool?" I giggled, pointing to Kemuri who groaned and laid his ears flat back in irritation. Suddenly I felt a chakra-presence appear behind me and I whirled Kemuri around to meat a purple cloud of haze and then-

" Anko-Sensie!" I shrieked happily, leaning over Kemuri to fist-pump my sensei a greeting. Anko grinned broadly at me before assessing the rest of the team.

"So Pinky, nice team you got here. I see the Uchiha brat, Uzamaki wrench, and what do we have here? Hatake Kakashi in the flesh." Anko teased, sticking her tongue out playfully before turning around to smile back at me.

I shrugged innocently, "Well, what can you do you know?" I taunted earning a glare from Sasuke, which I readily sent back.

"What are we doing for dinner?" I asked eagerly, not caring if my team was still present or not. Anko grinned broadly and I immediately perked up, my eyes sparkling with happiness.

"DANGO!" I screeched in question, earning a nod from Anko.

"Dango." She smirked.

"**DANGO!"** Inner squealed in delight, her eyes immediately turning into heart's.

"Dango?" Kemuri asked hesitantly, silently questioning Anko's food of choice but he like the Dango too so no arguments there.

"Dango? For dinner?" I turned around to see Naruto cocking his head awkwardly and I giggled.

"Ya, want to come?" I asked eagerly, anxious to spend some time with my teammates even Sasuke.

"Sure, only if there will be ramen though." Naruto said grinning back to me. Of course I had expected that but I still sweat dropped slightly.

"OI! Uchiha!" I called out, successfully stopping Sasuke in his tracks.

He turned around and glared at me, "What?"

I grinned deviously, and then appeared right in front of him. "This is a team dinner Sasuke so you're coming!" I demanded, plucking the Uchiha from the ground by the back of his collar and plopping him down behind me on Kemuri.

"Hey Naruto! Hurry up!" I yelled out.

"I'll see you there!" Anko-Sensei said, grinning in that way that said 'your on!'

"AACK! Quick! We have to get there before Anko-Sensei does!" I squealed anxiously, whirling Kemuri around in a fit of competitive fury and charged toward the Dango shop. I made sure to grab Naruto and seat him behind Sasuke before we left, and I also made sure to urge Kemuri on extra fast.

"**You evil evil little child you."** Inner said smirking, and I grinned back feeling the Uchiha wrap his arms around me in a death grip. Oh yes, I could tell there and then that I was going to be in for one hell of a ride with these guys. And funny enough, I didn't ever want the ride to end.

I knew in that moment, rushing to the dango shop on a nin-horse running like a cheetah on crack with the arms of my teammates clasped around me for dear life, depending on me, needing me. I knew that moment that whether i like it or not, we would be bonded for ever and ever. That nothing, not even the sharpest sword, or the strongest fist, or the harshest words could break our bonds and that i would be there for my team. I knew that we would be bound together by something stronger than fate, we were more alike than we could ever realize and in time would come to lean on each other for support. I knew in that moment, i had a family again, i had three more people to add to my little family. I knew then that i would fight with everything i had to preserve my teams bonds, to preserve our trust, friendship and family. And i knew in that moment i didn't ever want to let go of what i had then.

* * *

><p>I smiled slightly and inhaled the sweet smell of damp grass and cherry blossoms in bloom, and i watched the full moon stare back down at me as i rested at the top of the Hokage mountain. For the first time since i had met Anko or Kemuri i felt like my life actually made a little more sense, like it was one step closer to being complete. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, freeing me from the pain of no family. I stood up quietly and gazed at the moon in all its glory, unconsciously rubbing a dragon tattoo on my right shoulder-blade. I suddenly felt something wet slip down my cheeks, tears?<p>

I was crying, but not out of sadness or pain or misery, but out of happiness. They weren't sobs, or snotty fits but subtle crystal droplets that slowly leaked out of my eyes. I couldn't help the broad grin that settled over my face despite the tears that glistened in the moonlight, because i was finally happy.

I didn't ever want that pain of loneliness to return, no not ever no matter what! I wouldn't let it! I would fight to keep us together because in truth each of those boys had taken a part of me with them, yes even the Uchiha. I knew what he was going through and in all honesty, i felt the strangest urge to gather him up in my arms and just hug him till the tears came out. Whatever grudge he was holding was eating all the love from his heart, and replacing it with vengeance and i needed to melt it because that ice would freeze and shatter eventually. I know its a lot to say after only being an official team for about sixteen hours but it meant the world to me. Anko and Kemuri had become instantly a part of my life, but i still felt a little empty inside. Having five years of life torn from me left an empty black hole in my heart, but having a team, being a ninja, knowing there will be people there for me to lift me up. That was all i ever asked for , That was all i ever wanted.

I walked over to the trio of cherry trees that grew secluded in the grassy meadow of the clearing at the top of the hokage mountains. Only one tree blossomed and lived, but tonight it blossomed with more radiance, more vigor than ever before. I gently hopped into the tree, leaning against the main trunk with a happy but shaky sigh. The tree even appeared to be crying the misty dewdrops that formed on its petals, and i couldn't help but flick them away with a smile.

"I finally have a family again, and i can't thank you enough for doing this." I said calmly, gazing up at the moon without a clue as to who i was talking to.

"Please just protect them, and i will too. I'll make sure nothing ever happens to my comrades and so we can always be a family. Anko, Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Kemuri. Family in my heart." I choked out, the tears running thicker as i felt my old, wounded heart finally die but in its place rested a new fragile one. One that finally felt complete.

A pair of eyes that blended well with the inky blackness of the night, stared wide at the clearing in front of them. A small, wavering hand clutched the material around his heart with a vice-grip as the eyes gazed at the little pink-haired girl who cried peacefully in the clearing.

A small mouth trembled, barely able to whisper the words that the mind processed "F-F-Family?" it stuttered out, the hand clutching the shirt harder as a heart began to melt again. Its thin icy sheet fading into a liquid pool that slowly gathered at a pair of small feet.

And from those onyx eyes, dripped the icy frost of the heart, running down the heated cheeks and off the quivering lips to join the growing pool.

"Family."


	2. Team 7's first battles!

Born to die

Chapter two:

"Icha Icha Paradise II and a battle worthy of a ninja"

"That person that can make you laugh, smile, or cry and you don't even know it until they tell you, and then you laugh some more. Yup, that's a damn good friend right there even if their a stranger." ~Me!

**Disclaimer: Ya ya, I don't own Naruto.. blah blah blah… don't sue me…. Blah blah blah… just read the damn story!**

**Author notes:**

Hello there! So I promised some Neji in here and some grew into over half the chapter so, he-he ya. The next chapter will be centered around team gai and team Kakashi, get ready for bushy brow jr. vs bushy brow sr.!

PLEASE REVIEW ME PEOPLE!

Also for neji/saku art on the scene at the very end (only in the chapter its night) go to my devian account at

.com/

please visit and comment there too!

* * *

><p>"IT'S BEEN TWO HOURS!" Naruto whined, using the loudest most obnoxious decibel of sound a ninja could possibly reach. Sakura winced slightly as Naruto was so conveniently standing right next to her at said time, and Sasuke only scooted further away from the two.<p>

"NARUTO! SHUT THE HELL UP WOULD YA!" Sakura roared and then punched Naruto harshly on the head, successfully pounding him into the ground.

"**Thank you, I think we might be able to hear again in a minute or two now."** Inner grumbled, rubbing her temples slowly.

"Ugh, Baka I can read time contrary to your beliefs." Sakura hissed, glaring coldly at the blond before stalking off. They had been waiting at the training ground for almost two hours now and their silver haired sensei still had not shown any intentions of even considering showing up and it was pissing off his pink haired student majorly,

"Hn." Sasuke mumbled before leaning further into the tree he was at.

Sakura shot him the same cold glare, "Ugh, Uchiha could you please do us all a favor and expand your vocabulary to above ten words?" She said, positively fuming by now as she felt the days stress begin to implode.

"Uh Sakura-" Naruto started nervously.

"GAHHHHHH!" Both boys immediately scrambled for cover, unsure of what exactly had just happened. Slowly the dust began to settle, and reveal that half the training ground was cracked and covered in crystal mounds that jutted dangerously from the ground.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked before picking his jaw up off of the ground and sparing a sideward glance at Sasuke.

"Hn, I don't know. Are you blind dobe?" Sasuke spat before turning around to pick a different tree to practice shuriken throwing on.

Naruto surveyed the training grounds again and realized something was missing, "AHH! WHERE'S SAKURA?" He cried hysterically while running around like a mad man on the loose.

Surprisingly, the Uchiha stopped dead in his tracks and then not so surprisingly cursed, "Fuck, Sakura."

* * *

><p>(With Sakura)<p>

"To hell with waiting! I think I'll just go find bastard sensei and drag him there myself!" Sakura hissed before quickly making the horse hand seal and then letting out an ear-piercing whistle.

"**Ooh! Pervy-sensie is so dead!"** Inner said, chuckling with the thought of burning, shredding, or destroying the jonins entire Icha Icha collection.

"_Cork it Inner." _Sakura snarled.

Within a matter of seconds a large dun nin-horse was standing warily in front of her, "Uh, hey kid? Care to explain?" Kemuri asked, a nervous tone detected in his normally steady voice.

Sakura stormed right over to Kemuri and then boosted herself on, using the absolute largest amount of charka she could without blasting herself off into the stratosphere.

"Pony boy, we need to find purvey-sensei so I can teach him what happens when he is late!" Kemuri just rolled his eyes, exhaling in relief at the fact that it was only her late sensei that was royally pissing her off.

"Kid, you can be so immature I swear your letting Anko rub off on you way too much." He huffed before propelling himself forward at high speed while scanning the area for a chakra signature.

"**Ya! Let's kick his sorry ass and teach him a lesson! CHA!"** Inner shouted, pumping herself with adrenalin fueled by her pissed-off outers attitude.

"_Damn straight inner, damn straight." _

Sakura was practically snorting with pent-up rage when Kemuri finally smirked a little, "Ah hey kid, I think I've found the perve in question." He snorted, tossing his head in anticipation as he headed into the forest.

And there he was, Hatake Kakashi (A.K.A. Pervy-sensie) was leaning lazily against a tree with the newest release of Icha Icha paradise II in his hand. A creepy smile was plastered on his face as he giggled occasionally.

"**WHAT THE FUCK?"** Inner screamed, losing control of her own temper as she began throwing a fit in her sub-conscious realm. **"HE IS READING HIS PERVY LITTLE BOOKS! And what the hell, he laughs like a girl!"**

"The book must die." Sakura seethed, staring at the wretched paper bound distraction as if it would burst into flames. Oh wait, she would make it.

"**Ah might I suggest the new scorching palm technique we have been practicing?"** Inner asked sadistically, rubbing her hands together in a villainous manner on the verge of an evil laugh.

"_Let's."_ Sakura laughed inwardly.

The pink-haired Kunoichi quickly ignited a small, but lethal flam on both palms before performing fifteen different hand signals and laying her palm out flat as if to blow a kiss.

Kemuri felt his rider's chakra change and groaned, lowering his head in irritation.

" Oh Kid c'mon don't do it." he groaned quietly, hoping to avoid any further irritation but his mediocre efforts proved useless.

"Ya sure, Fire style Scorching palm Juutsu!" Sakura whispered before blowing on her palm and causing the small flame to ignite into a fit of sparks and ember, blowing straight towards the now very active Kakashi.

"Damn!" Kakashi hissed, jumping straight up as a shower of sparks danced below him. How the heck could someone have snuck up on him? He is the great and almighty Hatake Kakashi right?

"OH NO! OH NO! ICHA ICHA PARADISE II? WHERE ARE YOU?" He called out nervously, searching frantically around for his precious book.

Sakura smirked slightly, her pervy sensei's trashy book clasped tightly in hand while her other was held below it a dangerous flame flickering from her palm. "Oh Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura called out, her tone was dripping with a sadistic sweetness.

Kakashi's head shot up and looked to his left to find his new student perched comfortably atop the nin-horse with – "SAKURA! Give me that book back right now!" He growled dangerously before stalking over to the pair.

She laughed as she spun Kemuri around in the opposite direction, "HAHA! You'll have to catch me first!" She teased and then bolted away with Icha Icha paradise II still in possession.

"SAKURA!" the pissed-off silver ninja bellowed before giving chase, and thinking of the unlimited number of ways to torture a thieving student. Number one was reading him the rest of Icha Icha Paradise, oh yes that would do just fine.

* * *

><p>(Back with the boys.)<p>

"Ah, Teme! Where do you think Sakura-Chan went?" Naruto asked nervously, rocking back and forth on the ground.

Sasuke breathed out heavily in annoyance, "Hn, I don't really care dobe."

As if to answer their question a tan, flaming ball whizzed past the two before skidding to a halt and chucking a book at Naruto's head.

"Naruto! Head's up!" the only head that shot up was Sasuke's though.

"**Wow, remind me again how this kid passed the academy?"** Inner sighed before face palming as the book hit Naruto Square in the head.

Sakura groaned as she trotted over to her boys, Kemuri's mane and tail blazing with fire in his battle mode. Being a nin-horse meant he had a special nature style too, his happened to be fire style and he had figured out how to set his mane and tail on fire without burning it off.

"Hey Naruto, it's a gift from me to you." Sakura said deviously, grinning in such a way that hinted she was totally guilty.

Naruto quickly picked up the book and turned it around before lighting up with a smile, "ICHA ICHA PARADISE II! HOW DID YOU KNOW I WANTED IT?" He babbled excitedly as he danced around like a giddy, drunk idiot.

Sakura and Sasuke both sweat dropped before the girl promptly whacked Naruto on the head with a chakra-enhanced hand. "Naruto! You Baka!" She roared, sending some chakra into Kemuri and forcing his mane to flame up in a huge, impressive display.

Suddenly a silver-blur came spitting out of the bushes just as Naruto stood to get up, and crashed past him sending him flying past the others into a tree. Sakura quickly yanked Sasuke by the collar out of Kakashi's way, saving him from death by icha-icha deprived sensei.

Kakashi quickly scooped up his precious book, fondling it and then inspecting for damage. Satisfied that there wasn't anything wrong with his beloved book he stuffed it in his pocket and then turned to a very smug looking sakura, " Hey there Kakashi-sensei, nice of you to drop by," She said, smiling with a sickly sweetness that made even Kakashi shiver a little.

"Sorry about that, I was on my way here when a black cat crossed my path." Sakura twitched slightly before opening her mouth to scream,

"LIAR!" She yelled in unison with Naruto who had made a miraculous recovery and was now standing to the left of Kemuri.

"**Heheheh, maybe Kakashi-sensei has learned his lesson."** Inner laughed.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted before dodging another flare up of Kemuri's blazing mane. The Uchiha glared forcefully at the nin-horse, cursing him for stealing his beloved spotlight with his fire-nature and became determined to show him that only an Uchiha could truly master the flame.

"Uh, Anyway today we will be testing you to see if you really can become genin. The test you are about to give has a 60% fail rate and only two of you will pass and one will have to go back to the academy * cue flailing Naruto* The objective is to get one of these bells before that timer runs out." Kakashi explained, pointing to a timer that had magically appeared on a tree before jingling his bells slightly.

"**OH MY FUCKING GOD!"** inner gaped.

"_The bell test? Seriously!"_ Sakura added, a deceptive smirk slowly creeping its way onto her face.

" _Oh, this is going to be a piece of cake."_ She said and inner's maniacal cackling backed her up because she had been doing this drill for three years now, and her outcome had always been an improvement. Today she suspected would be no different.

* * *

><p>Two hours passed and the boiling Konoha afternoon was beating down on the three ninja, and they found that they had yet to steal a single bell from Kakashi.<p>

In fact, not only did they not have a bell but also Naruto was tied to a stump and Sakura and Sasuke were commanded not to feed him lunch.

"Remind me again why i'm the one tied to the tree?" naruto whined, squirming in his ropes as he tried to free himself. Sasuke sneered at his blond teammate, why did he have to be so dumb?

"Oh, that's easy! Your the one tied up because your the easiest on** to** tie up!"Sakura said sarcastically, earning a grunt of approvement from sasuke before she rolled her eyes.

Sakura sighed, and waited for Kakashi to poof away before calling to Kemuri who arrived within moments, "Hey pony boy, can you grab me some lunch please? Ill groom you later, promise." She said sweetly, grinning with success as he flickered off to find her some lunch.

"Why did you do that Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked, tilting his head in question.

Sakura smiled before stuffing her onigiri into Naruto's open mouth, "That's why Baka, I promise to take care of my team and that includes not letting them go hungry."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his foolish teammate, "Hn, you're going to get in trouble for that." He hissed, looking down at his own bento, which was suddenly very interesting.

Suddenly Kakashi poofed right in front of Sakura, and he looked even more pissed off than when she stole his Icha Icha Paradise that morning. "YOU ALL-" he started, glaring at Sakura with killing intent which she surprisingly returned but with a smirk before stuffing yet another onigiri into Naruto's trembling mouth.

"Pass!" Naruto choked on his Onigiri while Sasuke's eyes widened just a little in surprise.

Sakura on the other hand only grinned wider, "I thought so. The whole point of this exercise was teamwork, but it didn't really matter to me I would've shared my lunch anyway." She said humbly, cramming the last of the onigiri into Naruto's mouth before he could say anything stupid.

"That's right sakura. Shinobi who disrespect the rules are trash, but those who disrespect their teams are worse than trash." Kakashi stated confidently, sending a proud grin to sakura who smiled back and hoped that maybe he would recognize her now as a Kunoichi and not just some little pink haired girl.

* * *

><p>It's been a week since my team and I took the bell test, but I feel like nothing has changed. I mean I should be happy because I'm one of only nine shinobi that passed the test this time around but still Kakashi-Sensei treats me like I'm made of glass and so does Naruto while Sasuke- just calls me annoying but I could give a damn about what that Uchiha has to say.<p>

I tilted my head up a little, gazing at the inky black sky that was dotted with thousands of sparkling stars.

"I just wish someone would see me as a ninja." I whispered silently, breathing in the cool, crisp night air deeply. It smelled like pine trees, and rain but nothing else.

Half an hour passed and I was getting ready to go home, it had to be at least 1:30a.m. And Anko was out on a mission *sad face* so it didn't matter when I returned or not. I sighed and breathed in deeply one last time, but I smelled something new.

"Cinnamon?" I asked with an amused tone, whirling around to see the Hyuuga emerging from the forest with his typical impassive face on.

I nodded my head slightly in acknowledgment, "Neji-San." He just grunted towards me and then walked toward the edge of the mountains outcrop, staring at the sky like I was moments ago.

I sighed and walked up next to him, "You come here when you're troubled too huh?" I asked quietly, trying not to disturb the peace and pry an answer from the impassive Neji at 1:30 in the morning.

Neji glanced down for a moment before 'Hn' ing, "Elders." He mumbled, just loud enough for me to hear it as an amused twinkle shone in my eyes. I had watched Tenten train as much as I could for the past year ever since she got her team, and coincidentally had observed the Hyuuga training as well. One big thing is that this pearly-eyed ninja was not a talker, and if you managed to get two syllables out of the guy it was like winning a Grammy award.

I smirked a little, raising my head back up to look at the stars, "Well Neji, in my opinion it shouldn't matter whether you're a branch member or main member. Truth of the matter is your protecting the next heir and that's a pretty damn good reason to have as much say in things as those old geezers do ne?" I questioned, allowing my eyes to wander over to his as a flicker of surprise went through them.

" **Didn't expect that now did you Neji?"** Inner said, causing me to burst out laughing in my sub-conscious mind,

I could've sworn that I saw the tiniest microscopic smirk appear on Neji's face, "You?" I whipped me head around and silently questioned my hearing for a moment before grinning lightly.

"Well Neji-San, my team doesn't seem to see me as part of the team. Kakashi-Sensei just focuses on training Naruto and Sasuke all the time, it's like I'm invisible to him or like some pretty ornament only used to decorate." I growled out. eyes narrowing in anger as I clenched my fists.

"**Damn you Pervy-sensie, and your porn." **Inner spat, grinding a picture of Kakashi posing with his little orange book under her foot like some pathetic little bug.

Suddenly Shino shuddered violently.

Kiba looked at him strangely, "You okay Shino?"

Shino nodded slowly, "Ya, it's just I got the weirdest feeling someone called my bugs 'pathetic' and compared the way people smash them under their feet to that of a picture."

Hinata and Kiba stared at Shino, both assuming that they had lost it. Hinata, still staring blankly at shino mumbled "O-Ok Then."

"Hn." He muttered, casting me the kind of '_go on' _glance.

"I just don't get why I don't even have a chance to spar or train or practice with my team? I mean Tenten always gets her chances to train fairly with you guys, Ino practically runs her team and Hinata is being personally trained by Kurenai. I just need a chance; one chance is all I'm asking for to prove myself you know? But Pervy-sensie seems to think that's too much of a trouble" I said, looking over at Neji to see him looking at me with an eyebrow arched amusingly up in questioned.

"What?" I asked, panicking slightly.

"Pervy-Sensie?" he asked me, and I immediately blushed a deep pink before looking away.

"Uh, Ya you see well um. Kakashi, has this god damned little orange book that he carries with him EVERYWHERE and well its, um, a uh." I blurted out, barely able to keep from sounding like Hinata.

"Just say it already!" Inner shrieked.

"Icha Icha Paradise." I squeaked, glancing back at Neji who now had a very dull look on his face, but after being forced around the almost-as-impassive Uchiha for years I have learned the language of the assholes quite well and knew that meant he was slightly disgusted and amused at the same time.

"**Wow outer, way to go. You just spilled your guts to the one person who might possibly be more emotionless than the Uchiha on earth that can still be called a human being. Nice."** Inner said, eying me with a '_way to go_!' look as I glared daggers back at her.

I sighed and turned around, "Well, Good night Neji-San." I whispered before making my way across the field.

Suddenly a huge gust of air narrowly missed my back as I spun around to see Neji, just finishing an air palm technique as he straightened back up again. The slightest trace of a smirk visible, he said, "Fight me Sakura-San, I'll see if you're worthy of being a ninja."

"**HELL YES!"** Inner cried, jumping for joy.

I grinned deviously, tightening my gloves in the signature '_sakura stance'_ as I stared him down. For a whole minute neither of us moved, neither breathed or blinked or spoke, and then "Your on Neji!" I said confidently.

Neji narrowed his eyebrows, obviously trying to seek out my chakra network and I let him do it because the byakugan's chakras disabling wont work on me since I have combined my chakra network slightly with Kemuri's. Handy little Juutsu that one is, almost completely rendering the Hyuuga's Byakugan useless.

"Crystal style: jade Crystal labyrinth Juutsu!" I mumbled, releasing the crystal roses to create a giant crystal dome encasing us in the Hokage Mountain's clearing. Neji cocked an eyebrow suspiciously at me, and I blushed a little because I hadn't explained a thing to him.

"He he, sorry about that. It's just I don't think the Hokage would be to happy if we destroyed the monument, ne?" I asked sheepishly before resuming my battle position.

Neji and I held our positions, each staring the other down with intimidating glances as a '_last chance'_ offering. And suddenly the battle started, I quickly whipped out 5 shiruken and then coated them in crystal " Crystal style: Hexagonal Shiruken!"

Neji moved in a flash, "Air Trigrams Air palm!" he yelled, thrusting his palm in my directions before shooting out a massive stream of chakra damaging airwaves. My eyes widened just as I was about to release the shiruken, and I felt my arm lock up.

"**DAMN YOU OUTER! MOVE YOUR ASS!"** Inner screeched, and I instinctively pumped chakra into my feet and dashed left but not before the passing tunnel of air could catch my right shoulder causing my shiruken to miss Neji. Damn him.

I growled in annoyance as I re-gained steady footing, and glared at my opponent whose impassive face now was twisted into an arrogant smirk. I felt the rage bubble up inside of me, and then I quickly performed the hand seals needed and slammed my fist into the ground shouting "Crystal Style: Crystal Needles!"

I watched in triumph as huge clusters of deadly Crystal needles began sprouting out of the ground everywhere, quickly heading in Neji's direction. **"We got him! We got him!"** Inner squealed, pumping her fist with pre-mature victory.

Suddenly Neji began making some strange hand seals and shouted "Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven." And immediately I knew I was in some deep trouble.

"**And we don't got him."** Inner said, dropping her head in a depressed manor.

I watched as Neji began spinning rapidly around, a huge sphere of chakra molding around him to make what I heard tenten call the "_ultimate defense_." Neji's Chakra sphere spun like a tornado, shattering my crystal needles as they attempted to sprout underneath him.

"**Aw shit."** Inner groaned, plunking down on the floor of my sub-conscious mind as we watched the poor crystals be reduced to nothing but dust in the wind.

I growled at Inner, _"SHUT UP! I'm trying to fight __**the**__ Neji Hyuuga here! I could do without your helpful commentaries."_ I snapped successfully shutting her up for a moment so I could think.

'_That is supposedly the ultimate defense, and the Juutsu works by creating a shield of chakra by spinning rapidly."_ I thought, desperately trying to find a way to break his Juutsu.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head, "But No spin means no shield!" I whispered to myself as I quickly found a solution to my problem.

"Crystal style: Falling tears Crystal Dragon" I said, rapidly performing the hand seals before slamming my palm into the ground. Almost immediately a giant, crystal dragon began to materialize in front of me.

"**Hell yes. Oh ya, go us! Go us! Go us! Oh Ya!"** Inner cheered.

I groaned, _"Didn't I get rid of you already? Just – uh whatever." _I said before returning to the present matter at hand.

Neji's Chakra sphere seemed to be spinning at a slower pace, and I smirked. "Sexist." I muttered before hopping onto the dragon's back and flying straight toward Neji's chakra sphere. "Fire style: Dragon bullet!" I said, making the hand seals as my dragon began to fly around Neji's sphere but in the opposite direction.

As soon as I finished the seals the dragon started breathing scorching hot flames onto Neji's chakra sphere, just as planned. I pumped more chakra into the dragon, rotating the other way faster and faster forcing Neji's rotation slower and slower.

"**Hehehe, excellent."** inner laughed, throwing her head back like some evil scientist.

I ignored my persistent peanut gallery and watched the shield grow thinner and thinner until suddenly-

"BOOM!" The Chakra sphere disappeared and the forced pressure of the air met my dragon's flames and created a huge explosion.

"**GAH! ABANDON SHIP! ABANDON SHIP!"** Inner cried and I wasted no time in hurtling off of the crystalized dragon, landing a safe distance away from the deadly flames. I smirked as I saw a small, smoke plume spit out of the explosion and hurtled into the walls of the crystal battle arena, hitting them with a dull but back breaking 'thud'.

"_Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark."_ I said, hissing with fake pain as Inner laughed a bit at my remark.

"**Hey I think we won! HAHAHA! In your face Hyuuga!"** Inner yelled, dancing a victory dance around like she had just had one to many shots at the bar. I rolled my eyes, and silently agreed with inner that chances are I probably did win.

Kami was I wrong. Suddenly I felt a chakra flare **'fuck'** and then heard "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four palms!" '**Double fuck'** before snapping my head in said voices direction just in time to see a very angry and scuffed Neji with Byakugan eyes intensified on me. **'Triple fuck.'**

**(**You might be wondering where 8-year-old sakura's inner learned those words, she lives with Anko. It's pretty self-explanatory)

I had never had my Chakra pathways messed with before and quite honestly I liked it like that, so as Neji began to perform what I like to call the " sixty four pokes of death' technique I did the one thing anyone would do in this situation.

"**AAAAAAHHHHHHH! PANIC! PANIC! AHHH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"** Inner wailed, running around in pointless circles while flailing her arms in my sub-conscious.

Okay scratch-that, Inner totally lost it and I just sat there counting each painful strike as it landed. "_41, 42,43…."_ I counted, squeezing my eyes shut in anticipation of the final strike. _"62,63,64-"_

Suddenly I felt my chakra flow stop, and then burst back to life again throwing Neji and I back in opposite directions. I heard the Crystal walls of the stadium moan and heave as our backs slammed into the walls, and I managed to look up and see cracks beginning to crawl up the walls. The last thing I heard sounded like a thousand mirrors all shattering at once, and then I blacked out.

"What-" Neji groaned, slowly getting to his feet, "Was that?"

He looked around at the makeshift training ground, not a thing was out of place except for a certain pink-haired Kunoichi. _"Why didn't my technique work? It's like at the last minute a wall went up and I couldn't freeze her network. Hmm."_ Neji mumbled, and then made his way over to the unconscious girl.

Neji frowned a bit, _"And what was that force, it sent us both flying back?"_ he silently questioned before reviewing the results of the battle with a small smirk on his face. He had won (duh.), but he couldn't help but think how this had been his closest battle yet.

It seemed almost impossible to Neji that such a weak looking girl had managed to destroy his 'ultimate defense', and come the closer to beating him than any of the other genin had. He hadn't ever taken notice of this girl before, he only happened to see her when Tenten brought her along to watch them practice. Key word, WATCH. She never battled with Tenten or him, and mainly focused on staying as far away as possible from Lee and Guy-Sensei.

"_And I've never seen anyone who can control crystal before."_ He mumbled before glancing over to the pink-haired Kunoichi. Suddenly he felt his breath stop a bit, something was wrong. It had been about 20 seconds and it didn't look like she was breathing. But she couldn't have possible died from that right? Right?

"Damn." Neji muttered, kneeling down next to her before placing to fingers at the pulse point on her neck. His blood ran cold, no pulse.

The seconds slowly ticked away, twenty seconds turned into thirty and Neji almost began to internally panic- almost. It would be a shame if she died but no skin of his back right? So why had he suddenly started sweating and why was his heartbeat speeding up and why-"

"_**WHAM!"**_ Suddenly Neji felt flesh connect with his shoulder and he went flying back a few feet- again.

Sakura had finally come to, and the first thing she saw was Neji Hyuuga's face hovering about 4 inches above hers and did what any girl in her situation would do.

She punched him.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Sakura cried, stumbling to her feet as she attempted to make her way over to Neji.

Neji scowled, shooting sakura with a death glare that said ' _I'm going to be a total asshole and shoot you down now'_. He quickly got to his feet with a little more difficulty than before, glaring as sakura stopped cold. "You fought well Kunoichi, I must go now so goodbye." He stated bluntly, hey just because he was an ass sometimes didn't mean he was manner less. But he did mean it when he said she fought well, and for some reason it troubled him that she was ignored by her teammates.

"**OMG! He said we fought well! Holy hyuga's!"** Inner squealed.

Sakura drooped her head, "damn, " She muttered, hiding behind her walls of bangs. But she knew that it wasn't really Neji's fault, and that he actually had the right to be an ass considering he tried to help her and she punched him in the shoulder.

Neji turned around to walk past her and leave but suddenly felt an unidentified chakra source flicker a few feet in front of him, standing beside the pink-Kunoichi.

"Hyuuga-" growled out a voice, its owner belonging to whatever was blocking his way. Neji looked up and saw an 8foot tall, tan nin-horse with a flaming mane and tail and a very angry chakra towering over him.

Sakura felt Kemuri's presence and immediately groaned inwardly, _"oh great, of all the times he's got to show up he does now!"_ she whined inwardly before looking up. Sure enough there was her nin-horse practically face to face with Neji, and sakura could tell that Kemuri was about two seconds away for crisping Neji's insides.

"Kami, pony boy back off would ya!" She yelled out, storming up to the animal as angrily as she possibly could, putting herself between Neji and Kemuri.

Kemuri took a step back and squelched his flames, a shocked expression on his face, "But Sakura, he totally just went all Uchiha on you!" Kemuri said, confusion and anger evident in his tone.

Neji had the strangest urge to stick out his tongue at that moment when sakura came between him and the animal, but decided to just watch instead. "No pony boy, stop being the ass you are and listen for a second. One, this Is Neji Hyuuga and he is like required or something to be another one of konoha's famous ice-cube's. Two, we were sparring and then I got knocked out and he won. He came over to check on my and I woke up, and accidentally, um kind of punched him in the shoulder."

Kemuri stood silent for a minute, and then suddenly burst out laughing, "You punched him! HAHA!" he snorted out, suppressing some of the laughs before looking over his master's shoulder at the Hyuuga, "Forgive me Hyuuga-san, I tend to jump to conclusions."

"**Hardy har-har."** Inner deadpanned at Kemuri's horrible pun.

Neji raised an eyebrow a little, _'what is with these two, she steps in and protects me from this creature who is obviously very attached with and then he asks for forgiveness? Weird._' He thought, nodding in acknowledgment toward the huge creature.

Sakura sighed in relief before stumbling to Kemuri and placing a hand on him. Neji watched as her whole body slowly started to faintly glow green in certain places, and then remembered his final attack.

"Why didn't it work?" Sakura's head snapped up shocked at the Hyuuga's sudden question.

"Why didn't what work?" She asked, tilting her head in question.

"My final attack, the eight trigrams sixty four palms technique?" he clarified. Neji silently wondered when and if he had ever talked that much one day in his life.

Kemuri eyed Neji with calculating eyes thinking, _"Hyuuga, Hyuuga where have I heard that before? -Ah!"_ he started laughing again and then snorted out, "You're a Byakugan user aren't you Hyuuga-san? So that means you probably tried to shut down the kid's chakra network to? So tell me, how did work out for you?" He asked, breaking into another fit of laughs before sakura slapped him on the shoulders successfully shutting him up.

She sighed and turned back to Neji, grinning sheepishly "uh, sorry about him. What pony boy meant to say was that he and I wont be affected by any chakra stopping techniques unless you can get us both." She explained watching as Neji's expression stayed blank of all emotion except for the tiniest flicker of confusion.

"You see, we managed to find a way to combine our chakra networks-partially. So he always has about 5% of my chakra running in him and vice-versa. That's why when you went to finish the technique and you came to the last chakra points there wasn't really any chakra there for you to stop and so your technique failed. Sorry, I kind of cheated on that?" Sakura said, laughing a little on the end as she explained.

Neji was shocked to say the least, but of course neither of the two knew that. He was also quite impressed, never before had he even heard of such a thing, but he couldn't help but admit to himself it was an ingenious idea.

Sakura smiled lightly at the almost un-noticeable changes in Neji's face, and she could tell that he was just the slightest bit impressed, but still. That was like being told your going to be the next Hokage. "Here, let me heal you." She offered, walking toward Neji as he glared a little.

Sakura huffed putting her hand on her hips, "Look Neji, Tenten told me how you never go to the hospital for anything and you just go home and 'wait it out'. Well you should know that that is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of!" She growled, slowly growing angry at the Hyuuga's stubbornness.

"So, either let me heal you here or ill get the horse to drag your sorry ass down to the hospital! What's it going to be Neji?" Sakura smirked, triumph plastered on her face.

Neji sighed a little in defeat, "Fine, I will allow you to heal me Sakura-San but only if you teach me how to combine one's chakra network." He said, watching as the pink haired ninja's face lit up with delight as she trotted over to him and began healing his wounds.

"Where did you learn Medical-Juutsu?" he asked, watching as she worked.

Sakura grinned proudly, "I taught myself, and it was pretty easy. I'm not able to do anything major but I can do cuts, scrapes, fractures, smaller broken bones, some internal bleeding, and poison." Neji just sat quietly as she explained how she learned it and such.

Half an hour later Sakura stood back, looking at her handiwork "Well that just about does it." She said, pride overflowing in her tone.

Neji 'hn'ed and then asked, "Now, the chakra-Juutsu."

Sakura smiled a little, "Alright but you have to have a summon for this, and I cant exactly teach it to you. I've tried before and no one else but me seems to be able to learn it." Neji nodded, and then pulled out a long, creamy colored feather.

He quickly bit his thumb and then smeared it along the feather, rubbing his blood into it. Immediately afterwards the feather disintegrated and a large barn owl came flying form the forest, and landed on Neji's outstretched arm.

Sakura's eyes turned into hearts, "SHE'S SO COOL!" she squealed, fighting to restrain herself from running over and tackling said owl in a bear hug. Kemuri snorted and laid his ears back flat, giving the bird a once over.

"I don't see what so special about some bunny with wings." He grunted.

Sakura laughed and then embraced Kemuri, "Aw, Someone jealous? It's okay Pony boy, I'll always love you even though you're a total ass." She said, quickly pulling away as Kemuri threw his head up.

"Hey!" he whined, and then joined Sakura in her giggles.

Neji watched this whole thing play out, and then suddenly he felt his face twitch up. _'What on earth am I doing?'_ he wondered silently.

Sakura turned around and then gasped, her whole face suddenly tweaked into that of complete surprise and Neji felt his own face twitch, the muscles pulling down. "What?" he asked.

"Neji, you-you were smiling!" She squealed, her eyes sparkling with delight. Neji thought for a moment, '_so that's what it was like to smile, I haven't done it in so long.'_ But amazingly he felt no urge to bite back and detest the words of the pink Kunoichi.

Instead he just sighed and said "Hn."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "And we're back to single syllables. Oh well, I knew it wouldn't last." She said with sarcastic disappointment. She then got to work, quickly painting symbols on the ground with her own blood and that of Neji's and his summons.

"Okay, Neji you stand here and um-" Sakura stumbled, realizing she didn't know the name of his summon.

"Kashikai-san, but you may call her Kashi." Neji said, and then felt a wave of heat rush through his body before he shook it off.

Sakura stood there shocked for a moment before smiling, "Oh, Ohaiyo Kashi-Chan, please stand over here." Sakura chirped, pointing to another circle before she assumed her position of the ground between the two.

Quickly she began performing hand seals at a blinding speed, Neji watched and thought there had to be at least 50 of them in the sequence. Suddenly she shot her hands to the bloody rims of each circle and said " Chakra Network merge Juutsu!" both circles flashed with a white light and then the characters slowly began to move and switch places with the characters in the opposite circle before sinking into the ground.

"Alright, that's it then." Sakura said, standing up and dusting off her baggy ninja pants. Neji watched her for a moment, suddenly noticing a_- 'what on earth? Is that a dragon tattoo on her shoulder?_' he thought and then saw yet again a red dragon was sewn into the left side of her pants coiling down and around her leg. He looked at the black ribbon that held her forehead protector and then saw a small kanji written in red on it,_ ' dragon. Okay something isn't right here.'_ He thought again.

Sakura by this time had noticed Neji's close observations and had figured what he was noticing. No, she didn't think he was checking her out sakura knew better than that. "Ya, I kind of have a thing for dragons." She said casually, taking in Neji's slightly shocked expression. She also noticed how he showed a lot of emotion compared to normal right now.

"Why the tattoo?" Neji asked, staring at the marking with curiosity.

Sakura sighed a little bit, "Actually it isn't a tattoo Neji, it's a scar. It just looks like a Tattoo. I don't know where or when or even how I got it, and it doesn't do anything as far as I know other than be a total pain in the ass when I want too wear short sleeves."

Suddenly something bubbled out of Neji's mouth, the sound caused him to jump a little bit because he had never heard it before. Sakura smiled and laughed at Neji's completely surprised face, "Ha-ha! Neji you are so funny! That was called a laugh genius! You were laughing!"

Neji just stared for a moment, shocked. _'I-I was laughing? But that's showing emotions, no! I cant do that!'_ he quickly trained his face back to its customary scowl. Sakura noticed this and sighed slightly.

"Neji it's okay to show emotions when you're around friends. I wont think any lesser of you if you laugh or cry or yell, it's part of being human." She said, smiling softly at him.

Suddenly the façade dropped a bit from his face, _'It's not weak? So emotion can be okay?_' he wondered silently, allowing just a bit of the mask to break and the corners of his mouth to tilt up a tiny bit.

Sakura's own smile became blinding, "See? It's not that bad?" she laughed. "So, meet me her tomorrow for a re-match?" She asked hopefully.

Neji smirked, his tiny grin turning devious, "I'll be here." He said watching as her face lit up with happiness and felt that warm rush again. Kami it felt so-so strange. It's not that he didn't like it its just that it was so weird.

"Alright, I have to go back now Neji. Thanks for sparring with me; it's great to have a friend who will actually take the time to help. Well, have a good night or erm- morning Neji!" Sakura said, Smiling as she quickly swung onto Kemuri's back, and sitting tall and proud up there.

"8:00 p.m. tomorrow, be here. Have a good day, Sakura-chan." Neji said, and sakura smiled back a yes before whirling around and dashing off.

Neji felt his muscles twitch again, but this time he didn't fight it or that warm fuzzy feeling. "_I remember now, this feeling its that one you get when someone cares."_ He mumbled softly, "_Wait, sakura-Chan? I didn't even know I knew her name."_ he mused.

"She called us friends."

**Author note:**

AWWWWW! Neji found a friend! Now let me just make it clear the only kind of compassion is brother/sister and friendly compassion going on here! Alright I don't do romance before the age of twelve sorry people! But they will have a very strong friend relationship, but tell me what you think. Was the battle scene good, im trying to get better at them without to much gore, blood etc. PLEASE REVIEW!


	3. Gone with the old and on with the new

**Born to die**

~Chapter 3~

"**Gone with the old and on with the new"**

"A warrior must take care that his spirit is never broken." ~?

**Disclaimer:** I (sadly) never have and never will own Naruto so stop asking me okay! Sheesh!

**Author Notes:** Well, another day another chapter- sort of. So I've resolved to make shorter chapters now so I'm not drowning you poor (non-commenting! ) readers in detail. So hopefully you like this and please for the sake of my sanity comment! I've had almost 200 page views and no one single solitary person bothered to comment. I've spent a lot of time on this so ya, anyway I hope you like where this story is going.

Look for author notes at bottom too.

* * *

><p>Something was wrong, horribly wrong. I had been waiting at Ichiraku's for a half an hour, that's right I had been waiting for my normal Friday meeting with Naruto for 30 minutes, and it was to get ramen!<p>

Since when was that boy ever late for ramen, or something he might call a "date"? Hell, normally he was an hour early, happily bouncing on his seat waving out and calling "Sakura-Chan!" when I arrived! I called it a catching up session seeing as how I am barely a part of team seven and yet it's only been a year since we were made in the first place. How things change.

"Grrr, Naruto! Where are you?" I whispered under my breath, spinning around in one of the barstools at Ichiraku's, a bad sinking feeling present in my stomach and I knew it wasn't ramen deprivation that was Naruto's crap.

Silently I closed my eyes and envisioned the crazy blond, feeling for his chakra. "What." I gasped upon discovering my friend's chakra, poorly masked and accompanied by the rest of my teams (surprise surprise) _"Naruto's never tried to mask his chakra before! And what is he doing with Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei?"_

I quickly began to grow worried so I paid for my ramen and then threw the hood of my white cloak on, and then I brought my fingers up to my mouth and whistled. Moments later my nin-horse was standing impatiently in front of me, obviously aware of the situation.

"Pony boy, follow Naruto's chakra. I have a feeling that there is something weird going on." He glanced back at me with a silent yes before taking off into the night, following Naruto's chakra trail expertly.

We were almost as good if not as good as Akamaru and Kiba at tracking and Akamaru was a dog for Kami's sake! No matter, I was proud of it nonetheless, but if only Kakashi-Sensei was as proud as I was off it.

I sat in deep thought as we noiselessly rode to team 7's normal bridge, and I made sure to completely seal our chakra so that even Kakashi wouldn't sense it. Quietly I watched the silhouetted forms of my boys talk to each other.

"Naruto you know it's for her own good." Kakashi said, I could make out the stern look in his one eye as he talked.

"But, wont it be harder without a third teammate?" Naruto asked, and I could've sworn he was trying to turn the argument in my favor.

Kakashi-Sensei shook his head, "Naruto, you know that she is vulnerable and requires a high amount of protection." He said. I bristled up, to hell with that! I could protect myself and the team better than Kakashi-sensei could ever hope to!

Sasuke jumped off the railing, "Ya Dobe, we'll be able to go so much further without her. She is just holding us back." I involuntarily hissed at these words, and immediately knew whom they were meant for.

Naruto hung his head, "I know, it's just I feel bad for Sakura-Chan, it's not her fault she's a little weaker than the rest of us. We never even tried to help her." I felt my heart clench, and then grow hard, covering itself in a protective layer of ice.

"Dobe she never even showed up for training half the time." Sasuke scoffed.

I glared daggers at him, _"No, you never showed up for training half the time! I ended up training with Guy, or Kurenai, or Asuma when you bailed on me!" _I hissed mentally.

Kemuri glanced sorrowfully down at me, nibbling gently on my hooded head, "C'mon kid, I think we've seen enough." He said gently, turning to leave but I didn't budge.

Naruto sighed and shook his head before asking in an angry tone, "So what do we do then? Huh?" my lip trembled slightly at this, I never thought Naruto would leave me behind.

"So, it's decided. We are to expel Sakura from team 7 for her own good." Kakashi said.

My heart stopped beating for a moment and my eyes widened in the sadness that was quickly gripping my body.

"For our own good dobe, we'll finally be able to get stronger without distractions or someone holding us back now." Sasuke said, no hesitation present in his voice.

I glanced to Naruto, begging silently he wouldn't agree. "Ya, for –for our own good." He whispered, hanging his head with shame.

That was the final straw, I whipped around and stomped through the brush and quickly mounted Kemuri. He sensed my anger and jumped into a full-blown gallop. "Pony boy, Training grounds! NOW!" I growled, rage and sadness battling within me as he practically flew to the grounds.

Just moments later we were at the training grounds I had claimed, well Neji and I specifically. We trained together every day at 8:00 p.m. after his team was done, but almost four days out of the week I found myself with them since my team was training without me.

I roared in frustration as Kemuri slid to a stop, and pushed myself off of his back. I jumped high into the air before turning around, corkscrewing toward the ground with incredible speed. I stretched out my fist, fingers clenched tightly with anger and I scrunched my face in fury.

"GAAAAAHAHHAHHHHHHH!" I yelled in anger, punching my fist into the earth with the expectancy of a little bit of destruction. No, apparently I was quite powerful when provoked. For a moment nothing happened, then all of the sudden the ground started exploding beneath my feet, like a massive volcano erupting. I quickly jumped to get out of the way, landing near Kemuri in the center of the clearing.

I hunched my back over, not willing to let my summon see me cry. "I C-Cant believe T-their doing this t-to me!" I chocked out, desperately trying to conceal a sob. "Their leaving me, my own family is leaving me alone! Dis-owning me, abandoning me!" my sobs began to break through their carefully placed wall, spilling over from my eyes and down my cheeks.

My body began to tremble with my own sadness, "Why? I've already lost my family before, why does it have to happen again?" The tears began to flow freely; I had stopped resisting them and given into their burning wetness.

"Naruto-kun, Kakashi, -Sensei Sasuke-san, I trusted all of them. They were my family Kemuri, the only ones I had left other than you and Anko. What did I do wrong? Am I really that weak?" I asked, my whole body felt like I had just run a hundred laps around Konoha. I slowly waked up to the edge of the cliff, and gazed at the moon.

"Am I supposed to be miserable my whole life?" I questioned, my voice growing more and more shaky by the seconds as my fists clenched hard enough to draw blood. "Or am I just destined to hurt people I love, to fail to protect them…" I whispered.

Slowly I felt wet drops landing on me, rain. It always seemed to rain when I cried, when I sobbed it poured. "What am I supposed to do? I lost the most important thing to me, my loved ones. I just don't want to do anything anymore; I don't want to go on anymore. I just want the pain to stop."

"Sakura?" I whirled around expecting to see Kemuri there but instead I saw Neji, his face contorted slightly with worry as his pearly eyes settled on my own downcast ones.

I sniffed and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, "Sorry Neji, I forgot about training today." I whispered, putting on the best smile I could manage but his mouth only frowned deeper, he saw right through me.

"Sakura…" he said, his voice held the faintest hint of concern. I finally looked up and met his eyes, they were narrowed in thought and the creased lines around them gave away the Byakugan. I sighed, knowing I wouldn't be able to trick him since he had his Byakugan he would be able to see my emotions no matter how good the façade was.

"MY YOUTHFUL BLOSSOM! WE HAVE COME TO PARTAKE WITH YOU IN YOUR YOUTHFUL TRAINING ON THIS YOUTHFUL NIGHT!" of course only one person would be screaming that in the middle of a biting storm. Bushy brow Jr. who would undoubtedly be followed by Bushy Brow Sr.

I closed my eyes tightly and looked away, only to feel a hand on my shoulder. "Sakura, what's wrong huh? You can tell me?" Tenten asked, looking at me sadly as she rested her hand gently on my shoulder.

I really wanted to tell them, truly. But I couldn't burden them with my troubles, no this was my own problem to face, and I had to deal with it alone. "N-Nothing Tenten. I just-I just…" My lip began to tremble violently as I felt my problems pushing at my lips, begging for release.

I sucked in a big breath of air and quickly said "I just need to be alone for a while" and then burst into crystalline dust, teleporting away like a coward.

* * *

><p>"What happened to Sakura?" Tenten asked worriedly, glancing around at the rest of team guy who seemed as uneasy as she was. Sakura was her best friend, and was very close to the rest of team guy as well.<p>

Neji had his eyes trained forward, looking down over Konoha's nightlife. "Hn." He muttered earning a hard glare from Tenten.

Lee looked like he was about to lose it, "What happened to my youthful blossom? Whoever did this to her is very un-youthful and when I find out who did this to her I will make sure they pay for their un-youthfulness!" Lee yelled, waving his fist in the air with anger.

Guy-Sensei just shook his head slowly, "Indeed, this is very un-youthful. Sakura is always a youthful blossom and never sad, what could've mad her this upset?" Guy-Sensei wondered, glancing around at his team to notice that they were just as upset as he was. The person that was the angriest was none other than Neji Hyuuga.

Neji and Sakura had become considerably close friends, not in the same way as she and Tenten had but all the same connection. She had seen Neji almost every single day for a little over a year for their daily training session if she wasn't already with team guy.

It seemed as though her team only trained with her half the time at best, but that didn't mean that sakura just wasted the time. Whenever her own team failed to train with her she sought out Asuma's team (mostly only training with Shikamaru and Asuma on Shogi days.) or Kurenai's team (Kurenai had come to cherish sakura almost as much as Hinata.) and most often Guy's team.

Neji had seen it firsthand, he knew how Kakashi never paid her a bit of mind and was only interested in the Uchiha and Uzamaki. It made his blood boil, that was not how teams were supposed to treat one another.

Sakura was more apart of the entire Konoha 12 now than team Kakashi, she fit well with the all of the other genin in her generation and even Ino had finally come to understand that she definitely did not harbor a crush for her Sasuke-kun and accepted the friendship again.

But team guy had actually come to look forward to the days when she would come train with them. Heck she even gave lee and Guy a nickname and dubbed them "bushy-brow Sr. and Jr." Amazingly, guy and lee loved the nicknames and wouldn't be called anything else except for lee whom would occasionally request it and get a thump on the head.

"I think I can be of some help." The whole team turned around to see Kemuri standing in front of them; his eyes were glazed over with many emotions. Sadness, worry, and hatred flashed through them.

"What do you mean youthful Summon?" Guy-Sensei asked, straightening up a tad at the prospect of help.

Lee jumped in eagerly, "Yes! Do you know why our Youthful blossom has wilted?"

Tenten sighed and thumped Lee on the head lightly, "Shut up Lee, and let Kemuri talk." She looked back to Kemuri who nodded a silent thanks and then sighed looking up at the stars. Neji noticed how concerned he was, and that there were traces of fear in his chakra.

"Naruto hadn't shown up for his weekly ramen meeting with sakura today, and so naturally we went looking for him." He started, his voice strangely mute of emotion though the nin-horses eyes told a different story.

"But his chakra was masked, poorly. But of course that is Naruto. We followed it to the bridge team seven normally meets on and discovered that the Uchiha brat and Naruto were already there along with Hatake." Neji's face contorted into an angry frown and Tenten gasped slightly.

"But, they called a team meeting without her?" She asked worriedly, watching as Kemuri nodded slowly in answer.

"I cannot believe my rival would do something as un-youthful as this." Guy said, a big, fake anime tear dropping from his eyes.

"Yes, but that's not what got her upset. It's what she heard that's causing her to act like this." Neji's headshot up, his face twisted with enough emotion to be somewhat close to normal humans by now.

"What did they say about her?" he growled lowly as Kemuri studied him with his own observant eyes before his face changed into anger as well.

"They said that she was to much of a burden for them to keep, that she was only dragging them down and hurting them. They said that they would be better off without her and then…" Kemuri paused to take a breath, but Tenten and Neji were desperate and wanted to know what the baka's had told their friend.

"WHAT?" They asked in unison.

Kemuri took another deep breath before turning and meeting their angry eyes with his own, "Then they disowned her. They agreed to kick her off the team, and didn't even seem to pay a second thought to it." Kemuri's mane had flickered into action by now; unconsciously burning as his own temper steadily rose.

Neji growled lowly while Guy yelled out "WHAT? But that is so un-youthful! Surely my rival hasn't done that?"

Lee's unbelievably bushy eyebrows were narrowed in rage, and he began to chant something along the lines of 'I will punish blah blah blah..'

Tenten couldn't believe her ears, she knew very well that Kakashi couldn't help but become obsessed with Naruto and Sasuke's training, but would he really go as far as to kick her off in order to ensure their success? "Did Naruto agree?" she asked suddenly.

Kemuri nodded, "Sadly, yes. But it looked to me like he at least tried to argue it and the final decision-he didn't like it."

Tenten felt sorry for sakura, her team had left her behind and Naruto who had promised his friendship to her had abandoned her as well. "So, that's it huh? What do we do?" She asked somewhat hesitantly, expecting a snappy reply from Neji.

" Simple, she joins our team now."

* * *

><p>(With Sarutobi)<p>

Sarutobi sat staring at his desk, or what wasn't covered by mounds of paperwork. He groaned, "Ugh, when the elders told me there was going to be a lot of paperwork I understood, but seriously! This is ridiculous!" his eyes drifted over to the next piece of paper in the pile- page 1,239.

"Kami save me." He huffed, and as if she heard his cries four chakra signatures could be felt just outside his door. He smiled, more than happy about the distraction.

He motioned for the Anbu guarding his door to open it, "Ah, Team Guy what brings you to my office tonight?" He asked merrily glancing around at the faces of one of the most successful youth Konoha squads.

Guy stepped up, bowing lowly to the Hokage before staring him dead in the eyes. "Hokage-Sama, we have a request." He stated.

Sarutobi was shocked, he had never once heard guy speak a single sentence without mentioning 'youthfulness' somewhere in it. Whatever this was must be important and he had an idea that it might be about the same thing that the mountain of paperwork was about. "Alright Guy, what do you want?"

"Are you aware that Kakashi is trying to defect his student Sakura-san from his squad?" Guy questioned in a serious tone that was alien to the bushy browed sensei.

Sarutobi sighed, so it was about the same thing. "Ah, Hai. It is truly disappointing that Hatake has decided on this. I thought that assigning Sakura would help the group, she is after all not that different from them." He said, a weary and sad frown plastered on his face.

Team Guy nodded in understanding, "Sarutobi-Sama, we would like to request that Sakura-san be transferred to our squad." Guy said quickly.

The Hokage lifted his head up, his eyes now warm but questioning. "Guy-san, you do realize you already have a full squad right?"

Guy nodded, he had thought about this but despite his youthfulness hadn't really come up with why they should be allowed a fifth member to the team.

"Hokage-Sama, if I may I believe Sakura-san would be a good addition to the team. We may already have the standard 4 members but there have been instances in the past where teams had five or even six members. Sakura-San works well with Team guy's existing members and is not a handicap to us."

All heads slowly turned to face the speaker, and met the pearly white eyes of Neji Hyuuga. Sarutobi was shocked, Guy and Lee had fainted and Tenten was completely flabbergasted. Neji was not on to stand up for other people regardless, even ones on the team because of his whole "_ I am a caged bird of destiny"_ thing. The fact that he had spoken up and defended her case only showed how much she had changed the group who was previously thought to be perfect.

Tenten quickly shook out of her temporarily shock and stepped up with Neji, "Hai! Hokage-Sama, Sakura-Chan is a good friend of mine and an excellent Kunoichi! Her skills are unique to our group and only help us more to be a better team!" She added, her face set with determination. The Hokage's eyes widened slightly and then his lips turned upwards a bit.

Suddenly there was a green flash and Lee was lined up with them. "Hai! The youthful blossom is a very skilled opponent! We all think her youthful-ness is inspiring and it pushes us harder!"

Sarutobi broke out into a full-blown grin, this was not something you had seen everyday. The most successful genin group of its generation was vouching to gain extra weight in the form of a rejected student, and by the looks on their faces - like hell were they leaving without their team papers saying "sakura" on it.

Guy had recovered and was standing next to lee by now, the embarrassment he felt was completely replaced by pride, "We request that Sakura-san be transferred to our group Hokage-sama." He stated.

"Hai, request accepted." Tenten, Lee's, and Guy's faces lit up with happiness and Neji gave his own tiny smirk (that's huge!). The Hokage had accepted no questions asked and they couldn't have wanted any more.

"I will inform her in the morning of this transition, you are all dismissed." The Hokage said, just a bit of happiness detectable in his voice.

Team guy nodded and then chanted out "Hai!" before turning and leaving the room.

Sarutobi chuckled, "Ah, kids." Suddenly another huge stack of paperwork was plopped down on his desk and he gasped.

"The paperwork for a genin-addition to squad Hokage." The Anbu said with a snicker as he groaned and then let his head fall down, the impact cushioned by the massive stack of papers that covered his desk.

* * *

><p>Sakura stood at the top of the Hokage mountains, gazing out over the Konoha nightlife as the rain poured down. The air was cold and unforgiving, the rain was biting and burning her skin it was coming down so hard, but she didn't care.<p>

She thought about what her team- no ex-teamembers had said.

"We'll be able to go so much further without her. She is just holding us back."

"She's a little weaker than the rest of us"

"We are to expel Sakura from team 7 for her own good"

Her fists unconsciously clenched and unclenched with her emotions, blood already crusted over as new droplets trickled down her palms. She had every right in the world to be angry with them, no furious! Yet, she found herself feeling sorry to them at the same time.

Sakura gazed up at the falling rain, "I'm sorry. Kakashi-san, Sasuke-san, Naruto-kun. I'm sorry I held you back because of my weakness, I'm sorry I was a burden to team seven and your dead weight." She said, no emotion detectable in her voice even though her words came from the heart. Angry couldn't describe how she felt, no more like pissed off but still she forgave them for the most part.

"I'm sorry to you, my family that I hurt your progress and I promise you it wont happen again." She said, her mouth turning slightly upwards into a somewhat sadistic grin.

"I promise you, that it will never happen again. I will become stronger, and I'll prove that I am no longer a weak little girl. I promise that I'll be good enough to match your strength, your skills, your speed, and your smarts."

"In fact, thank you team seven. Because now I will be a fighter, I'm going to get stronger, I'm going to work harder, and I will become wiser. Thanks-" The changed Kunoichi opened her fiery emerald eyes, defying anyone and everyone to come and tell her wrong now, to come and challenge her fighting spirit to finish her new mission.

"Thanks for making me a fighter."

Anko was jumping swiftly through the trees, her mission had taken her quite a bit longer than it was supposed to and she was anxious to see how sakura had been doing.

By far this was the longest she had been away, about two months now. She hoped that her pinky had settled things with her team because when she left they weren't looking so good.

"Huh?" she whispered, purple hair flinging around as she felt a chakra spike that could only be-

"Sakura." One of the ninja on her mission cocked an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"You three go on ahead and report to the Hokage, I think my student is out after hours," she said, pointing at konoha's welcoming gates as they nodded and moved on ahead. "-Again."

Anko quickly made it to the Hokage monument to find her pink-haired Kunoichi standing out on the ledge, facing up toward the icy rain as it beat down form the heavens. Anko hid her chakra and focused on Sakura, cringing slightly when she felt the aura coming off of her.

"Damnit Hatake! What the fuck did you do to my girl?" she growled inwardly and listened to what sakura seemed to be saying.

"I'm sorry to you, my family that I hurt your progress and I promise you it wont happen again." Anko gasped quietly, what was she talking about?

"I promise you, that it will never happen again. I will become stronger, and I'll prove that I am no longer a weak little girl. I promise that I'll be good enough to match your strength, your skills, your speed, and your smarts." Anko's eyes widened a fraction, her heart beating quickly inside her chest as she stared at her student.

"They didn't-" she thought.

"In fact, thank you team seven. Because now I will be a fighter, I'm going to get stronger, I'm going to work harder, and I will become wiser. Thanks-" Her teeth clenched down as her fists tightened in fury.

"Hatake, you did." She hissed and watched as her student said one more sentence.

"Thanks for making me a fighter."

Quickly she stepped from her hiding spot, making her presence known as to not scare her pink-haired girl.

Sakura didn't flinch a bit when she felt her Anko-sensei's chakra, but instead sighed lightly and said "Anko-Sensie, are you back from your mission?"

Anko had to strain to hear the relief in her Kunoichi's voice, only further worrying her as she stepped up and put her arms around sakura who leaned slightly into her sensei's embrace. " It's okay to hate the bastards for what they did. You should know that no matter what, no team should ever abandon their companions." She whispered into sakura's hair, pulling back to gaze seriously into the eyes of her student.

Sakura smirked to herself, "Anko-Sensie, I don't hate them for what they did. It's about time I learn what being a ninja is really about don't you think?" Anko frowned at her student s words, but was at least a bit relieved when she heard that her forgiveness was true spoken.

"Although, Hatake can eat his own words though." Anko cocked an eyebrow at her student whose smirk turned evil.

"Because wasn't he the one who told us that those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash?" Anko's eyes flew wide open as she remembered one of Kakashi's morals that he lived by and was immediately disgusted with the silver-haired Jonin.

Sakura finally looked up and met the eyes of her teacher, her orbs blazing with true determination "I intend to stay out of the trash. I wont abandon them, even if they did it to me. I will fight until I am standing by their side again whether it be as teammates, or their superior."

Anko's feral grin turned into a proud, sadistic smirk as she ruffled Sakura's hair. " That's why you'll always be stronger than them Pinky, no matter what the maggots say they couldn't be strong enough to ever do that."

Sakura grinned as well, licking her upper lip "And then i'll kick their Asses for ever even thinking i would just walk away. I won't give up, i've got things to do."

**Author Notes:**

Well? Did ya like it?

Don't worry; sakura will make sure to be good with team seven and no she doesn't hate their guts. She actually feels bad for holding them back so she wants to get stronger and join them again- darn her forgiving nature! Anyway, please review me!


	4. Sand Siblings, Team7, and Team Guy oh my

**Born to die**

~Chapter 4~

"Sand Siblings and Team seven!"

(Have two quotes today! Cha! P.s. if you don't like it, deal with it.)

"When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future." ~ Bernard Meltzer

"Forgiveness is like faith. You have to keep reviving It." ~ Mason Cooley

"

**Disclaimer: **Sure, I'll agree that I own Naruto if you can stay on Kemuri when he is majorly pissed off and roaring fire for thirty minutes. Thought so.

**Author Notes: **Hello there reader!

Sorry about the long update time! Had my first horse show of the season over the weekend and only came home with reserve-champion, (apparently a bad-thing by eyes of my dad. –Baka.) So had to go on hold for a bit.

Anyway please enjoy this particularly long chapter! Next up- CHUNIN EXAMS! Now, do I do this in 3 parts or two because lets just say we will be seeing some MAJOR KICK-ASS KUNOICHI SAKURA! In the forest of death and tag-team battles in the preliminary rounds instead of normal battles! Please review your answers!

I'd like to thank the following for actually reviewing this story!

BB'S-SHINIGAMI-KURA-HARUNO

And

Whitelily

* * *

><p><strong>Bold<strong> = inner/demons

_italic_ = telepathic talking/ talking with demons or inner/ summon talking

_Kemuri talks in italics because all summons talk telepathically._

* * *

><p>Sakura swiftly dodged the three kunai that had been expertly thrown at her with great skill, but her opponent was the master of weapons themselves and thus the third kunai managed to graze her arm. She hissed in pain and quickly allowed her hand to drift to the hilt of <em>that<em> weapon.

Before she had the chance to draw it a green blur charged up behind her, and attempted to land a blow before she shot into the air, and came plummeting down to the ground. Chakra pumping in her outstretched foot the Kunoichi smirked sadistically before slamming her foot into the ground and watched as half the battlefield erupted into moderate chaos right before her.

Safely hidden in the dense forest, a pair of pearly eyes watched the pink-haired shinobi's moves with precision as the veins on his face deepened with slight fatigue. A small, cocky smirk settled onto his lips, _"your not safe yet little Kunoichi."_ He thought before performing multiple hand seals to fast for the eye to see and charging – undetected into the battle.

Konoha's green beast and the master of weapons herself panted heavily a good distance away from their opponent who was watching them with an animalistic gaze. Brown eyes flickered to black and a nod was exchanged toward the opponent Kunoichi – or rather behind her and the ninja suddenly burst into action.

"Twin rising dragons!"

Sakura smirked from behind a veil of pink hair, she didn't need to open her eyes to know that her bowl-cut haired teammate was charging at her now with inhuman speed and her other bun-haired teammate was unleashing an army of weapons on her right now. What worried her was where the one with the ponytail was- but that would have to wait unless the thousands of deadly kunai raining down on her decided to suddenly disappear.

"Crystal style: Crystal encampment wall!" Sakura commanded, making the five hand seals as she spoke. Immediately a huge, mountain-sized wall of dangerously sharp crystals erupted from the ground in front of her. The deadly rain of kunai fell helpless to the crystalline barrier and the green blur could only collide with the crystal and create and imprint of himself.

Sakura giggled into a gloved hand, effectively muffling her girlish noises before alerting herself again to the scattered chakra signatures in the area and wondering _"now where did that boy go-"_

"Eight trigrams one hundred twenty-eight palms!"

"**That's where."** Sakura's inner stated smugly as her outer attempted to whirl around and intercept the oncoming attack. Though it proved useless against the Hyuuga prodigy's attack and he began to deliver the first of his 128-chakra killing strikes.

Sakura closed her eyes, concentrating her chakra to flow only in certain areas of her body- a handy little trait that owed it's success to the kunoichi's unique chakra control power.

"_Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four"_ sakura's mouth drew tight with concentration as she felt her chakra pathways sealed off one by one. It was like rapidly gaining altitude without yawning or having yours ears popping, only the single way to release this pressure was to stop the move before it ended. A task easier said than done.

"_One-hundred twenty five, One-hundred twenty six, One-hundred twenty seven-" _Sakura snapped her eyes open and pushed her chakra back into her system before the finale – deadly move could be made.

"_Guess we are going to have to use that weapon today."_ She thought bitterly, allowing her hand to fly over and grasp an ancient black scabbard.

Her inner grinned broadly**, "Finally! We've been holding out finally time to break this baby in! CHA!"** she shouted, fist-pumping the air for added effect.

Time itself seemed to slow for the present battle, brown hair whipped around a sweat drenched face as white eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise and irritation. Sakura's nimble fingers quickly rapped the silk covered hilt before clenching down firmly, and drawing the deadly blade in a single fluid motion to face white eyes with her own emerald ones.

Breath hitched as Sakura brought the sharpened blade of her katana out from it's cozy scabbard, and whirled around thrusting the cold, killing steel right to the neck of the Hyuuga prodigy who could only stand still or be de-capitated on the spot.

Sakura leaned in over the bloodthirsty edge of her young blade, bringing her mouth right next to the ear of the Hyuuga. He shivered slightly as her warm breath met the cold skin on his neck and she whispered, "I win."

Neji sighed lightly with relief before glaring at his sparring partner, "Mitarashi-san, this is simply a training session. We do not seek to chop our teammates heads off during them." He growled. Sakura huffed and rolled her eyes as she withdrew her sword, wiping its clean blade on her arm as an added measure before re-sheathing it and smirking.

"Ah, But Hyuuga-san- isn't it you who said training is only practical if one goes at it with the intent to kill? Ne?" Neji glared even harder at her as sakura giggled with victory, wiping the sweat off her brow with an equally sweaty forearm.

"Grrr, I hate y-"

"Umm! Hey! A little help over here!" came the voice of an exhausted Kunoichi. Sakura smirked playfully at Neji before dragging her feet over to where TenTen was with a sulking Neji in tow.

"OH! I'm sorry bushy brow jr.!" Sakura whined out upon seeing her self-proclaimed 'youthful' teammate buried five feet into her crystal barricade.

TenTen laughed as she grabbed lee's left leg and pulling, "He manages to do this every time, you'd think he would eventually learn." She deadpanned earning a series of muffled cries from said boy as she and sakura attempted to pull him from the crystal.

Neji rolled his eyes in irritation of his teammates childish antics before sitting down on a rock and thinking, "_this could take a while."_

Almost immediately Sakura shot her head up and stared at Neji, "This isn't going to take a while for your information Hyuuga!" she hissed smartly while tenten muffled even more uncontrollable giggles into her sleeve.

Neji groaned before looking away, annoyed with his pink-haired teammates new mind-infiltration abilities and grumbling something along the lines of no respect for other people's privacy.

Sakura poked her head back out from the hole and shouted, "I heard that!" which was followed up by yet another round of TenTen's unstoppable laughter.

The pink-haired Kunoichi growled before wiping the sweat off her brow, "Alright, screw this!" she growled releasing lee's leg with a heavy thud. "I've got almost no chakra left and obviously bushy brow over here managed to get himself _really_ stuck this time." TenTen sighed while smiling and shaking her head with an amused look on her face.

"Ahh, Saku your so lucky to have a summon like Kemuri. He's always saving our butts at the end of the day!" TenTen teased as sakura brought her fingers to her mouth and let out a loud, clear whistle.

"Yah TenTen, I'm _so_ lucky to have an asshole of a summon to chat my ear off at the end of the day. And he always save's _Lee's_ ass not ours to be correct." Sakura said, glaring slightly at tenten before turning to meet her scowling nin-horse with a cheesy smile.

**"Here we go-"** Inner sakura groaned.

Kemuri scowled at his partner before huffing and successfully blowing his thick, inky black forelock away from his amber eyes giving sakura the_ 'serious'_ look. "I am not an Ass Kunoichi! You just always happen to be grumpy at the end of the day after these insane training sessions!" he stated in a 'matter of factly' way.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Ya, And Whatever. Could you just get him out so we can all go home and sleep please?" she asked, leaning against the cool crystal walls and closing her eyes to relax a bit.

Kemuri smirked, _"Ah so you admit you do need me Pinky?"_ he asked smugly.

Sakura cracked an eye open slightly, "When did I ever say I didn't pony boy?" she bit back before grabbing TenTen's hand and dragging her out of the cave to let Kemuri do his work.

"So Saku, finally decided to use the sword?" TenTen asked nonchalantly while drooling over her friend's katana. Sakura eyed her warily, scooting the scabbard further back on her hip and further away from TenTen's grabby hands.

"Umm, Ya. Since the Chunin exams are tomorrow and all I said 'what the heck, why not?'" Sakura answered, leaning against the broad trunk of one of the few standing trees at team guys training ground. TenTen's face lit up with surprise upon hearing 'Chunin exams' before she began to giggle lightly.

"Ohh Ya! I completely forgot about them! I'm so excited we finally get to become Chunin!" Tenten squealed, practically bouncing up and down while sakura smirked at her friend.

"Of course you would forget something as important as the Chunin exams." Neji added from his spot on a stray rock.

Sakura glared slightly at the Hyuuga before cocking an eyebrow upwards, "Well look who decided to join the conversation! I don't recall you being invited Hyuuga." She growled playfully.

Neji smirked back at his competitive and aggressive teammate, "I invited myself."

Sakura was silent with shock for a moment and was about to bit back with some vocabulary most wouldn't think a nine year old girl knew when suddenly a green blur came shooting from the direction of a crumbling crystal wall- straight for her. The Kunoichi sighed and then side-steeped to the left watching as said green blur crashed right into the tree.

"Lee, you do this ever single day. When are you going to learn that sakura isn't going to stand there and hug your 'youthfulness'?" TenTen deadpanned while sakura shook her head with disappointment and Neji rolled his eyes.

Lee pried himself from yet another object in the last five minutes before turning to smile sheepishly at sakura, "Ahh! I must thank your youthful summon for extracting me from the most youthful defense you have created! For falling for your trick again my youthful blossom I will run 100 laps around Konoha, and if I cannot do that I will do 1000 sit-ups! And if I cannot do that I'll-"

"We get it lee!" TenTen yelled and lee sweat dropped before dashing off in the direction of the setting sun.

Sakura huffed, blowing a stray piece of carnation hair up, "Ya, you go do that lee." She said smirking at her witty remark.

TenTen laughed before walking off; "I got to go home now guys, I'll see you at the Chunin exams tomorrow!" she called back, waving at sakura who winked to her brunette friend.

Sakura groaned slightly and pushed herself up off of her perch in the tree, "Well, I better get going soon too. Anko might have Dumplings for us tonight!" she said, practically drooling at the thought of her sensei's Anko dumplings for dinner.

Neji smirked, "You and your guardian have an unnatural addiction to both Dango and dumplings." He said smartly.

Sakura stopped walking and glanced back over her shoulder at the cocky Neji, raising an eyebrow in question "what's wrong with that huh Hyuuga?"

Neji's smirk grew broader as he walked over to sakura and stepped in pace with her, "its weird and abnormal. All you ever eat is Dango and dumplings." Sakura let a low, animalistic growl escape her throat as Neji snickered ever so faintly at his teammates obvious reaction.

"Whatever Hyuuga." She spat back, shaking her head so that her two long pigtails flopped about in Neji's face. "So, what about the Chunin exams tomorrow? You excited?" sakura asked, successfully changing the topic at hand from sugary sweets to the next day's superficial exams.

Neji snorted, and swatted sakura's candyfloss hair away from his face before he scoffed slightly, "In all truth we have waited much to long to take this test." He stated blandly earning a chuckle from sakura as they continued down the path that would take them home.

Sakura kicked a stray stone out of the path they were walking on, one that wound around the very edges of Konoha and conveniently passed by both the Hyuuga compound and sakura's apartment. "Oh, jealous are we that I'm only nine and a half and taking the exam? and yet the hyuuga prodigy is almost twelve?" she said, her voice dripping with sweet sarcasm.

Neji glared at her, "You shouldn't be allowed to take the test Kunoichi. You're far to young and are probably going to get yourself killed out there." He said with forced bitterness, it had become quite hard for him to be cruel toward sakura lately.

Sakura growled a warning again at him, "Uh-Huh. Yah sure like that's going to happen. In case you didn't notice Neji, I just wiped the floor with all three of you guys today!" she said triumphantly, puffing out her chest with pride as Neji turned the path that led to the Hyuuga residence.

He stopped at the gates and looked back over his shoulder, "Just don't be late _Sakura-Chan_." He said, drawling out on the 'sakura-Chan' with a devious smirk before turning around and walking into the Hyuuga residence.

Sakura smirked to herself, drawing the hood of her inky black silk cloak over her head and continued down along the path. **"He is so jealous."** Inner said, grinning in the light of her own self-arrogance.

She shot a glare at her strange split personality, _"Would you hush up? I swear for once its actually silent and that's when you decide to start babbling again."_ She snapped. Her inner gave no apparent answer aside from a few huffs and grumbles so sakura continued walking.

She relished the rare moment of peace, one thing even scarce in the world of a simple genin. She inhaled deeply and quickly snorted in disgust as the normal scent of pines and heated tanbark that bombarded her nose evaded her and instead was replaced by seven different scents and subsequently seven chakra signatures.

Sakura stealthily changes her course and travelled through the trees toward the cluster of chakra about a half mile away. The scents that invaded her nose were familiar, and foreign. Immediately she recognized the scent of konohamaru's gang of academy kids and growled, "_what in kami's name are those four doing out at this time of night_" she thought before creeping a bit closer.

"Hey! That hurt punk!" someone yelled causing sakura's head to shot up in alarm. Whoever they were they certainly weren't someone she knew and they didn't sound friendly.

"Put him down Kankuro! You know you'll pay for that later!" came another voice, foreign yet feminine at the same time.

Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion before taking another whiff of the air.

The next four startled the Kunoichi enough to almost send her plummeting to the floor below her. The first to hit her like a hot, muggy summers day, _"salty and dry with wood shavings, and salty yet again with a hint of vanilla?" _she thought to herself, and immediately coming to a conclusion. "These must be sand shinobi? What are they doing here?" sakura growled lowly, sneaking even closer to the scene.

"Hey, he wont be here for a while. Let's have some fun while we can." Came the male's voice again. There was something about the tone that made sakura involuntarily bristle at his words.

There were still two identities that needed to be discovered before she could confront them, so she sniffed again. "_Water? –No. Damp, rain ya! Rain! Where have I smelled that be-"_ sakura stopped her unnatural sniffing as her body went rigid and began to tremble slightly with memories. "Sasuke." She growled out, snarling in anger. "_And that means the last smell is most likely- ramen!"_

Sakura didn't need any more convincing to guess what was going on. Konohamaru had probably run into some sand Nin and gotten them angry and Naruto and Sasuke *cue hissing* had returned from their little "excursion" and were now arguing with the sand Nin.

"You'd better take your hands off him right now!" as if to prove sakura's point the loud, unmistakable voice of Uzamaki Naruto rang out into the clearing.

"Let go of me you jerk!" Konohamaru squealed causing the hair on sakura's neck to stand up on end like she was a lion or some carnivorous beast getting excited with the anticipation of the kill.

Sakura suddenly became aware of the killing intent that was rolling off of her in waves and set to work quieting her ancy nerves before she gave herself away

"Ha, your feisty but not for long." The sand-nin said and sakura could barely keep herself from cutting the Nin's pretty little head off and mounting it on her wall at that point.

Naruto on the other hand seemed to have no such control. "PUT HIM DOWN!" Naruto yelled before launching himself toward the sand-nin. Sakura's emerald green orbs tracked his movements quickly and she pressed her palm into the ground.

"Crystal control." She whispered before forcing her chakra into the dragon veins of the ground and straight to Naruto's feet. Moments later Naruto was stopped dead in his tracks with his feet weighted down by sakura's heavy crystal.

"**Gotcha."** Inner mused while her outer smirked in success. Sakura quickly re-focused her attention back on the Nin, but what caught her interest the most was where Sasuke was.

"_He's hiding in a tree?"_ she thought to herself, humored as to how a great and powerful Uchiha was quietly hiding while a battle happened. _"Got to make sure this is an extra special performance then, we'll see how he likes it." _She added before allowing her eyes to dart back to the two sand-nin.

The sand-nin scoffed, "Hah! Your leaf-genin? Looks like your whole village is full of wimps!" he spat with that _'I'm so much better than you'_ tone.

"**Oh he did not just say that!"** her inner roared, throwing a tantrum inside her subconscious realm.

"Cut it out! That hurts!" Konohamaru squealed as the sand-nin began shaking him roughly by the collar.

That crossed the line for sakura, and she alerted everyone in the clearing to how pissed off she was at the moment by growling the deepest, most feral, animalistic, bloodthirsty growl _any_ of them had ever heard. (And that's saying something seeing as how Kankuro and Temari live with Gaara!)

Her emerald eyes glistened with bloodlust as her pupils thinned slightly. All eyes darted around trying to locate the rogue beast that had managed to sneak up on them. Sakura quickly forced chakra into her palms and slammed them into the ground, causing a nice distracting mini-earthquake to ensue.

Taking advantage of the ninja's confusion she darted forward, quickly snatching Konohamaru away from the sand-nin and elbowing him in the gut at the same time before springing back next to Naruto.

Naruto had absolutely no idea what was going on, one minute he was rushing to kick that Nin's ass and the next he can't move! Then some animal growls at them from somewhere and now a mini-earthquake! What had happened to Konoha when they were gone?

About fifteen seconds had passed from when sakura had snatched up Konohamaru who was currently clinging to her leg with all his might. Her face hidden in the shadows of her cloak as she growled lightly in anger. Naruto's head shot to the side and he jumped in surprise, "W-Who are you? W-when did you get? How did you-"?

Sakura quickly interrupted Naruto who was making quite a fool of himself at the moment. "Naruto shut up!" she yelled, knocking him upside the head with her fist before turning back to the sand Nin.

"Oww." He whined silently, stealing a glance back at the cloaked shinobi Naruto couldn't help but think that they reminded him slightly of sakura.

"Huh, I thought that Suna's ninja were supposed to be the best of the best." She started, watching as the male sand-nin in what looked like a black cat suit tried to get up. "But I guess that was just a rumor because obviously you don't have the guts to pick on someone your own size! Let alone fight someone who's worth a challenge!" Sakura put every last bit of nasty, evil, bloodlust emotion she had into her words as she practically spat them out.

Naruto just looked in complete and utter Aww at this shinobi, whoever they were they had guts to stand up to the sand Nin like that and then talk to them like trash.

The two sand-nin stared at this strange, cloaked shinobi with cold glares, but her emerald eyes only seemed to return said glare ten-fold causing the blond-nin to refrain from helping out her partner.

'_They seem kind of, familiar._**'** Sakura thought before quickly shaking her head.

"If you wanted a real battle then I'll give you one you'll never forget! But this isn't the place to do it, I don't know about Suna but her in Konoha we actually have respect for our village and so we have special areas to train!" The male sand-nin finally got up, clutching him stomach from the blow still he glared straight at sakura.

"Was that a challenge brat?" he growled back, anger rolling off of him in waves as he began to shoulder off whatever was getting a piggy-back ride from him.

Inner had been silent until now and suddenly roared,** "I don't care if this guys our long lost savior! This bitch is going down! SHANNARO!"**

"The hell it was!" Sakura snapped back, the eager tone in her voice not missed. Even though she was almost completely out of chakra how could she pass up a good fight? Simple, she couldn't!

"Kankuro! Don't be stupid!" the blond nin yelled out, but she seemed more like she was yelling at him in fear of something rather than just chastising him for his blatant stupidity of actually trying to challenge a ninja who was obviously more skilled than oneself.

"Don't worry Temari I got time to test out my new move on t his little pun-" Before the cat ninja could finish his sentence a dirt-clog came hurling from seemingly no-where, straight toward him.

Sakura smirked under her cloak before darting in front of the black-clad sand shinobi and punching the dirt-clog into nothing but dust. Still smirking she looked up, green eyes staring right where a certain someone was hiding in the trees. "You know Uchiha, it's rude to stick your nose in other peoples business." Sakura said smugly, giving away Sasuke's position to the whole group.

Sakura quickly darted back to Naruto's side just as the Uchiha jumped down from his perch in the tree obviously not happy in the least bit with this stranger. "Who are you?" he asked-no demanded. Pointing a steady finger at the cloaked shinobi.

Sakura chuckled slightly under the shadow of her hood, "Now Now Sasuke-kun. Where are your manners? Why would I not tell Naruto and then tell you huh?" she teased staring forward the whole time.

Sasuke growled, "Stop speaking in riddles and answer the question!" he said, desperately trying to keep his anger under wraps because Uchihas did not loose their cool in front of anyone. Period.

"You two are a disgrace." A new element added itself to the equation, one whose voice was as equally cold and distant as the Uchihas but more bloodthirsty. The two sand ninja visibly shivered in fear of this newcomer while Konohamaru and his gang scampered off, and Sasuke and Naruto froze.

Sakura looked up ever so slightly, and allowed her eyes to meet with sea foam green ones. Suddenly her whole mind started spinning, her vision went blurry and then focused as black dots began to dance across her eyes.

"_He looks so- like I- I think I know-"_ sakura thought before the light finally caved and she was plunged into darkness.

* * *

><p>Flashback time!<p>

"Bye-Bye Onee-san! Bye-bye Stitchy-kun!" a little girl said, waving at two cloaked men as they left the park quickly.

One of them stopped briefly, _"Be careful."_ He reminded gently through telepathy and the girl answered with a smile and a nod before he disappeared again.

The little pink-haired girl turned quickly and assessed the whole park; it was a really nice one despite the fact that it felt like an oven outside. There were swings, slides, monkey bars, and a sandbox?

Startled slightly with her discovery sakura looked closer, and noticed a single mess of red hair plopped right in the middle of said sandbox.

"_That boy, he's all alone. I wonder why?"_ "Sakura wondered silently to herself. Her creamy beige silk cloak shielding her from the harsh rays of the sun, but they couldn't shield her for what happened next.

Suddenly Sakura sensed something coming at her- and fast. She whirled around only to meet an oncoming fist that smashed into her face, instead of the intended back of her head target.

She crashed to the ground, and her cloak flew back revealing a large forehead and pink, candy floss hair.

"Hey! FOREHEAD! We don't like outsiders here!" A boy spat, pointing an antagonizing finger at sakura's slightly limp form.

"HA-HA!" Another one yelled, encouraging the rest of the group to join in.

The little mop of red hair moved, it's owner glancing up from underneath its shaggy curtain at the scene that was unfurling. His sea foam eyes widened slightly in surprise for multiple reasons. One, the teasing and taunting weren't directed at him. Two, there was a newcomer in the park, and three, she had pink hair!

"_Who is that?"_ he wondered silently, staring with interest at the crumpled form of the four year old girl.

"**She's different."** Shukaku said, joining in his containers conversation.

"_Obviously"_ Gaara deadpanned back before another chorus of teasing erupted from the group.

"Forehead! Forehead!"

"Hey Billboard brow!"

"Ha-Ha! Pinky!"

"Weakling!" On that last remark Sakura's emerald eyes shot open, glistening with rage and anger just in time to see a kick thrust at her stomach. A sickening crack filled the air followed by the cruel laughter of the pink-haired girls bullies.

Her eyes widened with pain before narrowing again, black pupils thinning into dangerous slits giving the young girl a very feral appearance. Suddenly a deep, terrifying growl erupted from her throat, startling all the other children into silence as she struggled to get up.

"I- Am- NOT- WEAK!" she hissed, glaring from behind her messy carnation hair as some of the group shivered with fear causing her to smirk.

"Oh yeah?" The leader said, stepping up to the challenge.

Sakura glared harder as more growls and snarls bubbled from her throat, making it so a blind man would think her a lion not a girl. "Yeah. Why? You think not?" she snarled, whipping her head up to fully expose her fiery green eyes.

"Yeah."

Gaara could only stare at the young girl with widened eyes. She was so wild- so different- so-

"_Like me."_ He thought, his heart pounding against his ribcage as he watched the pink-haired girl start to snarl after seemingly being knocked out.

"**She is strong. She would make good prey for us."** Shukaku said, licking his lips hungrily as Gaara shook his head.

"_No! Is she a Jinjuriki too?"_ he asked hopefully.

"**No."** His demon stated, relishing in the boys disappointment before continuing. **"But she is a demon on her own. Just sealed away at the moment."**

Gaara's eyes flashed open with surprise again as he heard the most feral and terrifying growl come from the girls throat. _"She-She is?" _

Suddenly the girl had staggered to her feet, and her eyes shined with a bloodlust that made Shukaku drool with envy. Although it seemed like a painful bloodlust to her too, and that she was aware of it which killed any chances of a demon.

The leader of the gang quickly made to punch this bratty new girl but something stopped him, something that sent the rest of his posse screaming and running for their lives and had him trembling with fear.

"Huh?" Sakura wondered out loud, cracking an eye open after the anticipated attack never came. Sand, sand was chasing everyone flying around everywhere in flurries and forms she had never thought possible.

"**What is that?"** her inner shrieked, causing sakura to whirl around and come face to face with the same red-haired, green-eyed boy she had seen playing in the sand box earlier. His chakra dark and malevolent and would've made even the strongest of shinobi shiver but not sakura, ironically she was in a way used to this sort of thing.

The screams slowly died down as the two children locked gazes until Gaara lowered his, "You can run now, I wont get mad." He mumbled sadly, turning to walk away.

Suddenly he heard a soft snarl and felt a warm sensation on his shoulder. His sand-

"_It hasn't moved at all!"_ he thought frantically, pulling to move from the warm tingly sensation but found his feet wouldn't budge.

"**Crystal?"** his demon mused, chuckling darkly at the substance that kept his container still.

"Now why on earth would I do that silly?" came a voice, soft and sweet like silky petals. Gaara turned and saw two bright minty green eyes staring into his own, soft with sadness and joy at the same time.

Gaara stared shocked, "Y-You aren't afraid?" he stuttered out partly in Aww and anger as her eyes softened even further.

A giggle erupted from her lips as she let go of his shoulder and withdrew her crystal. "Now, why would I be afraid of a friend ne?" she asked sweetly.

Gaara suddenly looked down, "I'm a monster. I have a demon inside of me and everyone is afraid of me." He said sadly, stifling sniffle as his eyes clenched shut.

Another snarl escaped the pinkette lips causing Gaara's head to shoot up, "NO YOUR NOT! Monster's attack people, monsters hurt them but monsters don't help friends. Only friends do that." She said warmly, her voice filed with fight. "Besides, " she whispered, "as far as I'm concerned I'm just as much a monster as you are."

Gaara only heard one thing out of that whole speech, "Friend?" he whispered, his eyes sparkling with hope.

"**She's right."** Shukaku laughed darkly.

Sakura snapped out of her stupor before smiling warmly at her new friend. " That's right, we're friends are we not?" she giggled, "Anyway my name's sakura. What's yours?"

"Sabaku-no-Gaara." He whispered quietly.

Sakura giggled warmly again before poking him softly in the forehead with her pointer finger and middle finger and then reaching for his hand, "Well, thank you Gaara!" she said softly.

Gaara's head once again shot up in surprise, 'is this going to happen all the time?' he wondered before gasping, "Thank you? What for?" he asked in a startled tone.

"For being my first friend." She answered back.

Gaara allowed a smile to reach his feature before he answered back, "You're my first friend too."

Suddenly Sakura tackled the boy into a hug, something Gaara had never really experienced before. "We'll always be friends Gaara, forever and ever."

Gaara's startled expression melted into content one as he whispered, "I'll never let you go, sakura-chan. My best friend."

* * *

><p>(Flashback IS GONE!)<p>

Suddenly sakura felt her conscious return back to her body. She just stood there for a good thirty seconds, gaping under the darkness of her hood at what had just happened.

"I-I remember." She whispered, so softly that not even Naruto who was standing right next to her could hear the faint sound of her voice.

"**It's, It's him?" **her inner gaped.

"_I think so."_ She added, staring at the redheaded boy in front of her. He fit the description of the boy from her childhood. Same red hair, same sea foam green eyes, same black rims that made him resemble a cross between a raccoon and a panda slightly.

Taking a step forward toward where the boy was standing, sakura shakily spoke up "G-Gaara? Is that you?" she asked tentatively.

Gaara's eyes widened a bit, _"Is it her?"_ he wondered silently, gazing at this cloaked shinobi with interest.

"**Well if that growling is anything to go by then it sure sounds like it boy." **Shukaku growled.

Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow in question and sakura blushed slightly, though no one could see it. Carefully she grasped the rim of her hood and drew it down.

Naruto, Temari, and Kankuro gasped slightly as two, loose pink pigtails spilled out of the hood and two bright, sparkling emerald green eyes shined with hope as she stared across the clearing toward Gaara. "Is that you Gaara?" sakura asked again, this time her voice more steady and confident.

Gaara's eyes widened again, "It's her." He mumbled before quickly shaking himself out of his stupor and nodding slowly.

"Sakura? " he questioned, his emotions strangely deciding to make an appearance in the usually stoic redheads voice as it trembled ever so slightly.

Sakura nodded as well, but much more vigorously than Gaara had and with a bright smile on her face. "SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura whirled around to see Naruto staring hopefully at her, his sky-blue eyes sparkling with hope as he yelled out her name just like he used to- before they ditched her. Sakura smiled softly back at the blond, nodding her head lightly in acknowledgment "Ohayo Naruto-kun!" she chirped sweetly before turning to face Sasuke. Her sweet features immediately twisted into a scowl, "Uchiha." She grunted.

Naruto nearly fainted with joy; his sakura-Chan had called him Naruto-kun! Not Naruto, or Baka, or stupid but Naruto-kun! AND she had called the teme Uchiha! HAH! He quickly made to tackle her in a hug but someone beat him to it.

"SAKURA!" squealed a much more feminine blond as sakura was tackled to the ground by the sand-shinobi in question. "Ah! Sakura it's you! It's you! It's really you!" Temari cried with a fan-girl tone to her voice.

Sakura surprisingly giggled at the older ninja's silly actions, "Yes Temari! It's me! I remember! Now would you please get off of me so some other idiot can tackle me to the ground." She said sweetly. Temari smiled sheepishly as she rolled off sakura and sprung to her feet, pulling the pink-haired shinobi with her.

"Heheh, sorry Saku! It's just it's been such a long time and ya…" Temari said, dusting sakura's black turned gray cloak off.

The other sand-nin who was dressed in a black-cat like ninja suit with purple makeup stepped up, smiling a failed-attempt player smile at sakura. "Hey sakura-Chan, still as good looking as ever." He said slyly, winking at the girl who stared back with a bored expression on her face.

Sakura smiled a sickly sweet smile back, strolling over right next to Kankuro before smashing her fist into his head and sending the poor ninja several feet into the ground. She smirked before crouching down and poking him in the forehead, "see you haven't changed a bit Kankuro." She said with a sickly sweetness before turning to face Gaara.

Sakura began walking toward him; her stride was long and confident even though she knew about Gaara's unpredictable demon. Her eyes never wavered from his own as she came to a stop about three feet away from the red-haired Jinjuriki. "Gaara." She whispered, and then to the surprise of everyone latched onto him tightly.

Gaara immediately stiffened upon the contact and his sand rose to attack but suddenly it was restrained by, _"crystal?"_ he wondered, and then smirked remembering his little friends affinity for the substance was almost as strong as his was for sand.

Temari and Kankuro stared on, still a bit dumbfounded by the whole experience as Naruto's face turned bright red in anger. Sasuke scowled, "Hey! What's your name?" he called out, effectively breaking up the long overdue reunion.

Sakura whipped around with fire in her eyes, "Kami Sasuke! I've said it like a million times already!" she growled out. Gaara rested a hand on her shoulder and easily calmed her down while smirking to himself.

"_Funny."_ He thought.

"**What's funny boy? The kid with the chicken ass hairdo or the fact that you're calming someone else down for once?"** Shukaku mused.

Gaara chuckled ever so silently, _"I don't know, both?"_ He answered back before returning his attention to the Uchiha.

"It is proper that one does not ask the name of another without giving their own first." Gaara retorted bitterly, scowling at the Uchiha with a murderous glint in his eyes.

Sasuke returned Gaara's glare as best he could, "Uchiha Sasuke." He muttered just loud enough for the redhead to hear. Sakura fumed silently at her stubborn teammate, why did he have to act like such a high and mighty ass all the time?

"**Easy answer, Uchiha." **Her inner deadpanned earning a disappointed sigh from sakura.

"Sabaku-no-Gaara." Gaara replied stoically.

Kankuro, Temari, and Naruto watched the battle between emotionless go down, and then Naruto mumbled, "awkward…" Sakura just managed to hear Naruto's little comment and giggled lightly into a gloved hand.

Temari rolled her eyes before glancing at the sun, "Oh shoot!" she yelled causing sakura to immediately jump into a defensive stance with a hand on the hilt of her katana. Gaara turned around and raised an eyebrow in question of his older sibling who shuddered by habit before gulping and answering, "It's getting late guys and the first part of the Chunin exams are tomorrow. We should get going to the hotel."

Kankuro yawned in agreement and hoisted himself out of the little crater in the ground he was so conveniently punched into. Gaara nodded before turning back around to face sakura, "We will be leaving now, until tomorrow Sakura-chan."

Naruto's face went bright red with anger but before he even had the chance to yell back some ridiculous comeback sakura dashed to his side and slung an arm casually around his soldier causing his face to turn pink with blush.

"You bet Gaara!" she yelled back, waving as the sand siblings went their separate way to rest for the night before she turned back to address her ex-'boys'. "So, you guys ready for the Chunin exams tomorrow?" she asked eagerly.

Naruto's blue eyes grew wide with excitement, "Totally Sakura-Chan! Believe it!" he shouted earning a giggle from Sakura. The blond ninja smiled one of his famous Colgate smiles while thinking '_Sakura-Chan hasn't changed a bit! Maybe we can be a team again?'_

Sasuke scoffed, "Hn, how are you in the Chunin exams? You don't have a team." He said flatly. Sakura's eyes immediately went cold, any and all light flickering out from them instantaneously.

She chuckled darkly and Naruto gulped but didn't dare move, "Uchiha, for your information I have a squad and as you will soon find out it is the most successful genin squad of its time."

Naruto's was sure he felt his jaw hit the ground as the Kyuubi inside him chuckled, **"wow, talk about bragging rights."**

"_Tell me about it."_ Naruto said back, still gawking at his pink-haired friend who was smirking victoriously at a scowling Uchiha.

Sasuke glared at her before turning his nose up at her, "I'm going home." He said emotionlessly and then turned around and began walking home in the direction of his apartment.

Sakura sighed, her face instantly exchanging its scowl for a sad yet hopeful expression. "Sasuke hasn't changed one bit has he?" she asked Naruto, not bothering to look at him though as her eyes were trained forward with bloodlust on the back of the youngest Uchiha.

Naruto looked at Sakura quickly, " Ya, he's still the same old teme as he was before." He chirped earning a warm giggle from sakura that made his spirits jump.

The pink-haired genin quickly wiped a stray tear of laughter away before hugging Naruto lightly, "Thanks Naruto." She whispered into his jacket before quickly pulling away.

**"Easy there saku, he might get the wrong idea!"** Inner chided earning a snicker from her outer self.

When Naruto finally snapped out of his momentary daze he noticed There was no blush on her face, no red-tipped ears, but instead fiery green eyes that the blond boy loved to see almost as much as the blush. Sakura grinned at the gaping boy with determination, "Well, it's getting late and if I'm going to kick your asses tomorrow in the Chunin exams I'm going to need my rest!" she said confidently.

Now that snapped Naruto out of it real fast, "Hey! Wait a minute! You'll see Sakura-Chan! Sasuke-teme and I have gotten a lot stronger than we were before!" he shouted back, his voice loud enough to make the people in Suna cover their ears.

**"Ohh, burn!"** inner hissed,** "he totally just dissed us on how leaving made them stronger!"**

Sakura inwardly sniffled, _"Ya, but he's Naruto. I mean he doesn't realize these things and-"_

**"WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME HE STARTS! CHA!"** her inner yelled in rage.

Sakura sighed, she knew what her inner self said was true but pounding the blond's ass a mile into the ground wasn't going to fix the way they saw her. _"Ya, but we have to put the past behind us or else well never move on, ne?"_

**"Fine."** Inner grumbled.

Suddenly sakura became aware of Naruto, well more his face and the distance it was from hers. The very Close distance.

Her eyes narrowed, '_who does he think he is?"_ she growled inwardly before smirking and kneeing the boy in his 'sensitive' area. Naruto hissed in pain before whimpering and crumbling to the ground in a fetal position.

"Naruto, a ninja should always be aware of their surroundings no matter the situation." She teased, wagging a finger at the boy who was clearly in a great deal of pain.

**"Look who's talking miss 'I'm going to leave rain check reality for a minute guys while I chat with inner!' "** Inner deadpanned.

Sakura glared darkly at her inner before snarling, _"Shut up."_

Returning her attention to Naruto who was still curled in a ball whimpering she smiled triumphantly, placing her hands on her black clad hips, "Well, it's time for me to hit the sack Naruto." She said.

Naruto-amazingly- Shot to his feet right away, "I'll walk you home sakura-Chan!" he yelled eagerly, his blue eyes flashing with excitement.

Sakura giggled softly once again to humor her blond haired ex-teammate before bringing her fingers up to her mouth and whistling sharply, scaring the living daylights out of poor Naruto. "GAH! Sakrua-chan! What was that for?" he whined, staring at her like a confused puppy.

Suddenly Naruto felt a hot breath on his neck, and stared wide-eyed at sakura with a 'help me please!' look on his face. Sakura smirked and nodded upward with her eyes, "Well, what do you know it's my ride!" she chirped.

Naruto rolled his head up and came face to face with a lot of deep, coffee colored fuzz that belonged to champagne colored face. His eyes sparkled with remembrance, "KEMURI!" He yelled causing said nin-horse to flinch a little at the sound.

Kemuri snorted before darting over to his companions side with un-matched speed, _"Well, it's Naruto alright. No one yells so loud that I'm positive my ear drums have burst."_ He groaned sarcastically.

Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head while sakura shot a glare at her pony boy and muttered, "Show-off."

Kemuri smirked and leaned down right next to her before shouting, _"WHAT? I CANT HEAR YOU?"_ Naruto started laughing hysterically while sakura groaned and punched Kemuri in the shoulder non the lightly before gracefully boosting onto his 7 foot tall back.

She fake-saluted to the still laughing Naruto, "Well, catch you tomorrow Baka!" before whirling around and cantering quickly off.

Kemuri glanced back at his girl,_ "Does it still hurt?"_ he asked telepathically as usual.

Sakura sniffed a bit before gulping a deep breath of icy air and grinning softly but at least geniounly, "Ya, but remember? Naruto wasn't to hot on the idea of kicking me off the team." She said, "if anyone is getting their ass kicked it'll be Hatake when I find him, and then I'll wipe the table with Sasuke afterwards."

Kemuri whinnied a with amusement, _"I'm proud of you kid. You've got a good head on your shoulders now don't you forget it. But just know it's perfectly fine to want their heads mounted over the fireplace, everyone expects that."_ Sakura rolled her eyes before hugging to muscled neck of her nin-horse tightly as he cantered away.

"Ya Kemuri I know. Don't go sounding like Anko now okay, one Anko is more than enough!" Sakura teased, sitting straight up again as they continued on their way.

Neither knew what the Chunin exams would hold though. In fact no one knew, not Naruto, not Sasuke, not the rookie nine or even the Hokage. The sand siblings had thought they knew but seeing sakura again was making them have second thoughts.

The only one that did know sat crouched in the cover of the trees, slitted eyes watching the pink-haired ninja with great interest as she darted away on her nin-horse at blinding speeds.

"Ku-ku-ku-ku, so we meet again, Ryuu."

Author Note (part two!):

So? Was it good?

Anway here are the options for the Chunin exam arc. Which is like the 3rd biggest part of my story (its gonna end up being like 200,000 words!)

Option 1: three chapters

Option 2: four chapters (three chapters shared between last two parts of test.)

PLEASE REVIEW ME!


	5. Chunin Exams: Part 1: Team 7's Test

"Born to Die"

Chapter 6

"Chunin Exams ~ Part 1"

Disclaimer: Ya, you wish.

Introduction: AAAHHH! Please don't kill me! Dead authors can't write any more! Hello my very angry readers, I am really sorry for the almost month long interval I took to write some of this chapter and the next one. Lets just say I had a lot of shit going on in my life (aka, equestrian international exchange to Tokyo so I was in japan for almost two weeks.) and had rarely a moment to myself. But, no matter! I introduce to you this! I will also be cleaning up my other chapters and adding an intro chapter soon so bare with me please!

* * *

><p>Now for Quote time, with uncle Mo~<p>

"Funny thing about the past, if you try and put it behind you it'll just bite you in the ass, but if it's always on your mind then it clouds the future, the only way to get rid of it is to stop running and face your past, and then turn around to meet your future."

~Me!

"Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future."

~ Audrey Hepburn

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."

~Paul Boese

(One more!)

"What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now."

~?

* * *

><p>Emerald eyes flared in anger as they watched a boy clad in green spandex fly back from the force of a punch delivered by two Chunin, and thankfully land in the arms of his brown-haired Kunoichi teammate.<p>

Their third, coffee haired, pearly-eyed shinobi teammate narrowed said pearly eyes in irritation, '_kami-sama, why does my team have to be so annoying?_' he thought silently before his thoughts momentarily wandered to his second Kunoichi teammate. _"Where the hell is sakura? I thought I specifically told that little pink haired girl not to be late!"_

"**Oh!"** Said girl's Inner hissed, sarcastically cringing at the punch, **"That was a nasty punch!"**

The pink-haired shinobi growled at her inner in disgust, _"That's our teammate we're talking about! Aren't you worried?" _she barked.

Her inner shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, **"I would be but this is Lee we are talking about, Remember? Pretty self-explanatory if you ask me." **

Sakura smirked lightly, _"You mean us right?" _and laughed before finally giving a reluctant groan of submission under her inner self's murderous glare.

Kemuri snickered to himself_, "Chunin exams, definitely not what I thought they would be."_ He mused sarcastically. His enormous 8-foot tall muscled body quivered in response to his rider's chakra flux as he watched her annoying teammate get punched back. _'Big mistake.'_ He thought to himself, chuckling at the foolish Chunin who just sealed his fate for the day.

"Psh, Don't kid yourself. Delicate little girls don't belong here, so you better go home and play with your dolls." One of the chunin's spat before joining his comrade in a triumphant laugh, oblivious to the steaming threat just floors beneath them.

"**HELL NO! HE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!"** Sakura's Inner roared, clawing at the thin barriers of her sub-conscious cage as if she could escape and take her revenge.

"_Oh but they did."_ Sakura replied, her sub-conscious voice was cold and chilling while her emerald orbs narrowed in anger toward the Chunin.

"**And!"** Her Inner continued, obviously not yet done ranting, **"They insult us with this pathetic excuse for a Genjutsu!" **She roared, waving her arms around as she gestured to said Genjutsu.

Sakura growled, feeling the effects of a headache already, _"Inner, just shut up. This Genjutsu isn't actually that bad. If your tiny, stupid brain remembers we have been hanging out with Hinata and Kurenai-Sensei lately, not to mention Kurenai-Sensei's crazy Genjutsu."_ She hissed, hinting to her inner that the conversation was over.

"**Psh, Whatever. Talk to you later."** Her inner snorted before sauntering back to her _'happy place'_.

Sakura sighed in relief before remembering why she had even argued with her inner in the first place, _"Oh yes, that's right. Chunin-assholes messing with my team."_ She hissed inwardly, her body beginning to tremble with pent up rage as she growled out her distaste loud and clear for the world to hear.

"And another thing-" The Chunin stopped his ranting and froze like everyone else on that level when a deep, feral and deadly growl sounded out. Reminding him much of a pissed-off leopard just waiting to leave you mangled and bloody beyond recognition.

Everyone felt a sudden chill creep up their spines at the sound that foretold pain, all but the now somewhat smug members of Team Guy, A very-lazy Genin, and his blond teammate.

Said Team's pearly-eyed member, Neji Hyuuga sighed in irritation, _"Finally! Took her long enough! And what happened to keeping a low profile?"_ he thought, referring to his absent team member who had finally decided to show up. TenTen sighed with relief and dropped Lee unceremoniously, thinking _"Thank Kami-Sama! Now I can get Kemuri-kun to take care of Lee for me!"_ While Lee could only try to interpret the slightly horrified expression that graced most everyone's faces while mumbling "No! Gai-Sensie I have failed you!"

Shikamaru and Ino sent one another a glance, both conveying the same message. _"It's Forehead time!"_ Ino thought, smirking with glee at the thought her best friend had finally shown up.

Shikamaru on the other hand sighed lazily before shooting the two unsuspecting Chunin a glance that said, _"Well, It's been nice knowing you!"_ which received an audible gulp from both.

Sakura silently shifted, drowning in the fabric of her silky, black, cloak before looking down at her nin-horse's anxious grin. _"Ready to show em' what you can do Pony boy?"_ she asked telepathically, stroking his withers to calm his jumpy nerves.

Kemuri's muscles quivered excitedly with anticipation underneath the girl as he gathered chakra in his feet, _"Finally, show time. You are always hogging all the spotlight." _He answered back.

Sakura laughed silently before turning her chin up slightly to face the two- still very confused – Chunin that stood two floors above her. She absent-mindedly snaked her fingers around a clump of Kemuri's thick, blackened mane before leaning forward and whistling loudly- translated, it meant '_go!'_

The Nin-horse neighed darkly before releasing his chakra and allowing his bloodline to take effect. Flames engulfed his mane and tail, running down his spine and hind legs but never burning his rider. His muscles bunched, and quivered as then propelled the pair up in one fluid movement to the second story of the building in front of them. Landing both right in front of two Chunin who were currently scared stiff.

Sakura snarled in disgust as she jumped off of Kemuri's back, pinning one of the Chunin to the wall with minor difficulty. She chuckled darkly from the safety of her hood, "Tell me, Oh wise Chunin. Why are you underestimating this Kunoichi when shinobi rule #21 clearly states that one should never underestimate an opponent, hm?" she hissed, the Chunin she held had long since gone rigid with fear.

Reactions varied widely from the Genin and Chunin that were there, most confused and somewhat frightened, others sported smug grins that reflected their pity for the Chunin. While one was left completely, and utterly confused as he watched a fiery horse and it's rider seemingly attack two (albeit annoying, and somewhat hostile.) harmless Chunin.

His inner demon growled, _"Kami, you are dull brat."_ He breathed, referring to his blond vessel_, "What Shinobi rides a freaking Nin-horse in Konoha other_ _than-"_

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, his energetic voice sailing over others as his blue eyes sparkled with the excitement of seeing the pink-haired Kunoichi again.

Sakura growled involuntarily as she heard Naruto yell her name out for the entire world to hear, **"Well, now we know what day he missed at the academy."** Inner groaned.

Sakura mentally rolled her eyes, _"Ya, like all of them."_

"Now if you would be so kind as to dispel this pathetic excuse for a Genjutsu." She started, releasing the her grip on the threating kunai before walking back to head up the group of upcoming genin, "We will all be on our way." She said, her tone something between bored and disgusted.

Many eyes widened in surprise as they realized they were under the effects of a Genjutsu, those not included were obsidian, pearly, and minty green.

Neji huffed and then mumbled "show-off." quietly under his breath.

Inner puffed up her chest victoriously, **"Well what can I say I'm just that- Wait a minute!"** she cried, glaring daggers at the Hyuuga who stood smirking next to her.

"K-K-Kai.." One of the trembling Chunin whispered, his body betraying its mind as it trembled slightly in fear. The other, only emotionally scarred Chunin quickly grabbed his companion before dashing off- no doubt to the nearest hospital for some mental guidance.

Sakura snarled and then growled victoriously before elbowing Neji, "na, your just jealous." She whispered sarcastically, and then turned to follow the rest of the Genin who by now had begun the walk up the stairs.

"Oi, Forehead!" Ino called, catching up to the now smiling sakura. "Way to go, I think you just mentally scarred those two for life!" she said, punching her pink haired friend playfully.

"Served em' right to!" TenTen yelled from the top of the stairs, and then darted into the classroom to avoid an ecstatic Gai-sensei.

Sakura giggled softly and then turned to one of her best friends, "Hey Pig, you do realize Sasuke's up there? All alone and probably just looking for someone to talk to?" she said, watching as Ino's face lighted up and she dashed off.

Her Green eyes danced merrily for a moment before someone 'accidentally' bumped into her, "HAHAH! Man, Uchiha is screwed!" said person yelled, laughing boisterously in her ear. The sound of an unzipping jacket was followed by several yips and barks of approval.

"Well, Well, Well if it isn't Kiba himself. Been a while huh?" She asked, leaning against the railing of the staircase as she watched both boy and dog.

Kiba grinned, "Yup, in the flesh. Haven't seen you in action yourself for a while, Miss-Pinky." He replied, crossing his arms across his chest with self-proclaimed victory.

Sakura's left eyebrow twitched for a moment before she smirked, whistled, and then plucked a happy Akamaru from atop Kiba's head. "Hey buddy." She coed, tickling the puppy's stomach sweetly, "It's been such a long time! Here, I got something for ya!" she said happily, pulling a large piece of jerky from her pocket and handing it to Akamaru.

"HEY!" Kiba whined, drooling slightly at the jerky that Akamaru had, "How come he get's his belly tickled?" Sakura looked at him critically, eyebrow rose in question. He sighed and then pointed to the jerky akamaru was finishing, "So, you just carry that around all the time or what?"

Sakura laughed lightly, "Eh, sort-of. It's a habit I picked up from the days with Hatake. You know how he summons nin-dogs right?" she asked, cuddling Akamaru for a moment before placing him atop her head.

"Ya."

"Well, Pakkun isn't exactly the most motivated individual so a little jerky never hurt his enthusiasm." She said, chuckling nervously as Kiba laughed whole-heartedly- and then stole his dog back.

"Well, you should swing by the shelter later Sakura. Hana's been asking about you lately." Kiba said, "I think she's still trying to convince you that you should trade Kemuri for a nin-dog."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "As if. I love your nin-dogs Kiba but no way in hell would I trade Pony boy for one. Never mind the fact he would hunt me down and tan my hide for even thinking about it." Sakura said, slinking into the exams room as to go unnoticed by the many Sensei's at the door.

"**Plus, your dogs drool, and smell. Kemuri bathes himself daily." **Inner stated proudly.

"Well, still drop by the shelter later. See Ya!" Kiba yelled, and then joined the fray of already mixing Genin.

Sakura laughed, "Alright, later Dog-breath!" she yelled, and then turned around and found an empty desk to watch the sweet, chaos from. Shouts and Cries sounded everywhere from her peers as they re-united, most were insults flung between competing shinobi but a rare few were greetings.

"C'mon Neji! I think I see a specialized kunai!"

"Wait? What-"

"Watch out akamaru! Slow down geez!"

"Bark-Bark! *Jump* Munch! -Munch!"

"NO! My chips!"

"bzzzzzzzzzzzz"

"O-Ohayo Naruto-kun."

"Hey Hinata-san. Teme say hi to Hinata-san!"

"Hey. Hn, dobe."

"Teme!"

"Dobe.."

"TEME."

"EEE! SASUKE-KUN!"

"Damn it… get off!"

"IT'S BEEN SUCH A LONG TIME! MISS ME?"

"Ugh, troublesome woman."

Sakura grinned as she looked in the direction of said shinobi. "Shikamaru!" She called out eagerly, trotting over to his side with a big, goofy, grin.

Shikamaru nodded toward her, "Hey Sakura, long time, no see, eh?" He greeted lazily, leaning back in his desk to watch the ensuing chaos.

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully, "Sure Shika, because a week is a really long time." She said, watching the pineapple-haired genin's eyes go wide for a minute as he remembered the experience. "Remember, you, me, Ino, Choji, Asuma-Sensei, Anko nee-Chan and that hilarious fight between whether we get Dango or Barbecue?"

Shikamaru chuckled, "Yes, I remember you troublesome women. I remember that we ended up getting Dango after your troublesome sister came and you ganged up on Asuma-Sensei." He replied, hinting about Anko's sudden surprise appearance.

Sakura blushed bright red for a moment, scratching her neck sheepishly, "Ya, uh sorry about that." she apologized, slapping Shikamaru's arm when he laughed at her.

"H-hello S-Sakura-chan." Squeaked a timid voice. Sakura turned around to see the Hyuuga heiress standing shyly behind them.

She smiled warmly, and patted the remaining space on the desk next to her, "Hey Hinata, come join us." She said warmly. Hinata smiled before quickly scurrying over to her pink-haired friend.

"So, h-how is Neji-kun doing S-Sakura?" Hinata asked, her stutter fading in the presence of her best friend.

"**Being even more of a stuck-up, snot-mouthed, rich kid than before. I want to pummel his snobby ass into the ground on a daily basis." **Inner deadpanned as Sakura glared darkly at her and she quickly slunk back into the farthest corner of her sub-conscious realm.

Sakura laughed and casually rolled her eyes, "Ah, you know. Just as much of an arrogant ass as always Hinata." She teased. They both quickly broke out into a fit of giggles, grasping the desk for a moment before Shikamaru coughed.

Sakura glared momentarily at the boy who dared disturb their fun before she hopped up onto the desk next to Hinata, twirling a kunai she had brought. "So lazy bones, you actually going to try to do anything on this test? Or would that be to troublesome?" she taunted, smirking at the lazy genin.

Shikamaru sighed, rolling his eyes before he hoisted himself up in the chair, "Well I-"

"INO GET OFF!" Sasuke yelled, trying to remove the crazy, relentless blond attacking him.

"BUT SASUKE-KUN!" Ino whined, desperately clinging to the younger Uchiha like her life depended on it.

"HAHAHA! TEME!" Naruto cried, clutching his cramping side as he laughed uncontrollably.

Sakura snickered for a moment, "Oi, Kami-Sama help us all." She breathed, earning a giggle from Hinata and a chuckle from Shikamaru. Because men don't giggle.

Shikamaru sighed heavily, "How can you be friends with such a troublesome women?" he asked, shaking his head in irritation as his teammate attempted to wrestle Sasuke into a hug- again.

Sakura shrugged, "I manage. Pig may be a pain in the ass, but she's a darn good friend." She said casually, looking on with a mix of amusement and irritation as Sasuke dodged yet another one of Ino's failed attempts at a hug.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in question, "S-Sakura, aren't you going to h-help Sasuke-San?" Hinata asked, watching the two, somewhat unfamiliar ninja.

Sakura looked at the two with a somewhat malicious smirk, "Na, I think Sasuke-kun can handle this one." She said, adding the tease of a suffix to Sasuke's name. Both laughed at Sakura's expression, which was torn between tearing Ino off the boy half-heartedly, and rooting her on.

Suddenly Hinata stopped laughing and tugged on Sakura's arm lightly, "Sakura, w-who are those n-ninja?" she asked, gesturing to three Konoha ninja who had just entered the room.

Sakura turned and looked, her face immediately twisting into a scowl, "That's Kabuto's team." She snarled, the deadly flare in her chakra made itself known to both Hinata and Shikamaru, as did the deadly grip she now had on her left shoulder.

"Hey troublesome woman, what's wrong?" Shikamaru asked, watching the three shinobi with wary eyes.

Sakura growled deeper, " I don't like that- that snake." She hissed, watching the silver-haired shinobi with intent to kill. Hinata shivered slightly but activated her Byakugan, scanning Kabuto for any abnormalities and noticed his high chakra level.

"Sakura I-isn't he a bit o-old to be taking the c-Chunin exams." Hinata asked nervously, cowering unconsciously when her friend snarled again.

"Hmph, Yes he is. Bloody bastard's failed the test six times already." She growled, finally tearing her eyes away from the genin and taking a deep breath she ground out, "Let's just say Kabuto and I are not exactly friendly with one another."

Shikamaru gave her the _'go on'_ look and she complied, "there's just something off about him. He always smells of poison and snakes to me. Even Kemuri thinks he's weird." She said, a distant look in her eyes.

"Well, he is the son of the chief medic. So smelling like poison shouldn't be to troublesome." Shikamaru offered, a bit uncomfortable at the sight of his friend then.

Hinata opened her mouth to vouch for the Nara when Sakura cut her off, "Promise me something okay you two?" she asked, her tone suddenly sounding scared as her grip on the clothed shoulder tightened. "Stay away from him, just try? For me?"

Both nodded, "Alright, you troublesome woman." Shikamaru said, his eyes warm with understanding.

"O-Of course Sakura." Hinata chirped, hugging her friend lightly.

Suddenly everyone sensed several new chakra presences enter the room, one strong enough to cause even the relentlessly attacking Ino to stop. "Alright Brats. Ibiki Morino, proctor for the first part of the Chunin exams." Came a gruff voice, one that demanded attention. "Well? Everyone grab a test and then take a seat! NOW!" he barked, watching as the entire genin class scrambled to grab a test before finding their seats.

Sakura quickly said her goodbye's and then grabbed her test, "alright, seat seven, aisle three." She mumbled, searching the rapidly filling seats for her own. _"Seat seven, aisle three. Seat seven, aisle three. Ah here you-"_

"Hey Sakura-Chan!"

"**Seat seven, aisle three. You have just shot to the top of my kill list." **Her inner seethed, staring with vengeance upon the poor piece of oak.

Sakura sighed, and took her seat. "Hey Naruto." She said, waving at him before glancing around to find Sasuke to her left, Naruto at her right, Neji in front, and Gaara behind her. _"Well, it could've been worse._" She thought, writing down her personal information at the top of the page.

"**Ya we could be between Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha."** Her inner said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Sakura bristled inwardly, _"hey! You know that's not in any way funny!" _she growled, effectively silencing her inner self.

"Alright Brats. Here's what's going to happen. You'll have exactly forty-five minutes to answer the first nine questions. After that you'll be given fifteen minutes to answer the finale question." Ibiki started, his eyes darting around the room.

"_Weird"_ Sakura thought, quickly growing suspicious of the inner working of the test.

"Anyone caught cheating will be given three chances." He continued.

"_Weirder."_ She thought again, definitely growing aware of the ruse.

"And then kicked out, with their entire team!"

Sakura smirked_, "And, Bingo!"_ she thought. Inwardly patting her self on the back for discovering the secret ploy.

Her inner groaned, **"What is it now brainac?"** she asked, rolling her eyes at her outers rare moment of stubbornness.

Sakura glared at her inner, _"You know!"_

"**Humor me."**

Sakura huffed, _"Simple, this isn't really a test of smarts. It's really just designed to weed out the weak ones that don't have the guts to win. I could probably botch the whole test and still pass easy." _Sakura said triumphantly, and then sunk into her seat for an hour of relaxation.

"GO!" Ibiki yelled, watching with maniacal pleasure as several genin began to resemble his interrogation victims.

Shikamaru yawned, and taking sakura's lead leaned back into his chair lazily and began to take a nap.

Gaara began to make his attempt at answering questions, but in the end used his sand's 'third eye' to get the answers off of Ino, who had used her mind justu on a genin from the mist.

Temari and Kankuro answered their fare share of questions before resorting to Gaara's sand answers to finish off the paper.

Choji was to pre-occupied with his bag of limited-edition barbecue flavored chips (that sakura had snagged for him) to take even one look at the test.

Kiba had sent akamaru out to scout the competitions papers and quickly set to work, writing down the somewhat reliable information akamaru relayed back to him.

Shino similarly sent out his bugs to get him the answers.

Hinata did the best she could but got stumped on answer #7, so she caved and albeit nervously engaged her Byakugan and copied the rest of them from an Iwa ninja in front of her.

Lee was still in the medical ward, which meant he was excused from the first part of the exam no matter how many times he deemed it 'un-youthful.'

TenTen passed her fan between Neji and herself, writing the answers on the back.

And Neji, a but unnerved at first that his pink-haired teammates lack of effort engaged his own Byakugan and copied his answers from Kabuto's page. Figuring if he had really taken the test as many times as Sakura had said, then he should at least know the answers by now.

Fifteen minutes into the test, Naruto had begun visibly trembling with anxiety, _"Ah! These questions are like, impossible! Believe it!"_ he shrieked inwardly. His palms were hot and clammy, and his forehead was wet with sweat as his nervous blue eyes darted around the room, finally settling on Sakura's paper only to find that it was-

"_Empty?"_ he thought, completely dumfounded once again. Naruto had been positive that Sakura was the smartest person he knew, so why wasn't she answering any of the problems?

Sakura cracked a minty green eye open, aware of the stressed presence growing beside her. She was greeted with a Naruto that looked like he was in the middle of a panic attack, and that greatly unnerved her.

"**Geez, what's his deal?"** her inner asked, eying the blond boy suspiciously.

Sakura growled at her Inner_, "Shut up, you know him he's only good in real life situations. Not tests. He probably freaked and looked at my test."_ She bit back, pushing her Inner self away for a moment.

Quickly she averted her now calm and re-assuring green eyes over to Naruto, and mouthed an _"It's fine."_ To her blond teammate as quietly as she could. Naruto's blue eyes became drowned in relief and he quickly assumed a position not unlike Sakura's or Shikamaru's.

Sakura sighed, and was just about ready to resume her attempt at a nap ten minutes later when Kankuro raised his hand, "What?" Ibiki growled, obviously unpleased with the foreign Nin's disruption.

"I have to use the Restroom." Kankuro said, somewhat bluntly. Ibiki sighed and motioned toward the door with a nod of his head. Kankuro grinned, hopping up from his seat before he strolled toward the door but took a sudden detour near Sakura's desk.

Her minty green eyes narrowed in curiosity, _"just what are you thinking Kankuro?"_ she wondered, somewhat amused.

Kankuro strolled by, innocently enough when he suddenly brought his hands together and formed a string of hand seals while muttering some foreign phrase. Sakura, too caught up in her somewhat perverted friends sneaky mission failed to notice her paper burst into ashes, something her Inner conveniently did notice though.

"**Ha-ha! Kankuro you Dumbass!"** she shrieked, laughing at the poor boy's wasted effort.

Sakura grinned, slightly amused as she noticed the small pile of ashes on her desk. _"True that Inner. He could've just looked at the paper first, he would've had his work cut out for him."_ She pointed out, snickering to herself.

Ten minutes later Kankuro strolled back into the room, walking nonchalantly down Sakura's aisle. "_And now to exact my revenge."_ Sakura thought, giggling a little to loud as Sasuke's head snapped in her direction with a 'what the hell are you doing?' look on it.

Sakura smirked, and quickly brought her index finger to her lips in a 'shh!' manor before allowing her eyes to drift to Kankuro and back. Quickly she performed five simple hand seals and muttered, "Crystal style: Crystal needles." Pressing her hand lightly on the ground.

Sasuke watched on with a slight curiosity, _"What is she doing?"_ he thought, following the now lightly glowing trail of crystal with his eyes.

Moments later, Kankuro came crashing to the floor, "What the-" he groaned out, quickly stumbling to his feet in time to notice Sakura shooting him a sly grin. _"Well played." _He thought, somewhat admitting that he had it coming as he sauntered back to his chair.

Ibiki sweat dropped, and then quickly re-attained his impressive stature, "All right Brats, Times up. Time for the Final question." He yelled, effectively gaining the attention of the Genin.

"Now, I'm going to give you brat's a chance to leave now because if you don't get this question right, then you will fail the entire test, and- *pause for dramatic effect* You will have to stay Genin forever." Ibiki said, watching as over half the remaining Genin shivered visibly under his threat.

Sakura could almost groan, "Ooh, I'm so scared." She mumbled, receiving an interesting look from both Neji and Gaara who had conveniently happened to hear her. Ignoring the slight blush that blossomed on her cheeks, sakura watched as several Genin got up and left the room.

"**Good, less of them to deal with when the real test comes."** Her inner thought, sticking a childish tongue out at the retreating cowards backs.

Naruto's voice snapped Sakura out of her Inner musings, "Hey, umm-" he wondered out loud. The pinkette watched with a mix of worry and interest as he stood up, but she knew there was no way he would ever consider leaving now. Right?

Suddenly Naruto slammed his fist down on his desk, determination pooling in his cornflower eyes as he did.

"**Of course he wouldn't leave, this is Naruto- Duh!"** Her inner yelled, fist-pumping for the Blond.

"I won't give up! I don't care if I have to stay a Genin forever!" Naruto shouted, effectively taking the entire genin class by surprise. "I'll never give up because that's my shinobi way! I'll become the Hokage one day! -"

"Believe it." Sakura whispered, timing her words exactly with Naruto's as he shouted them loud and clear for the entire world to hear. She couldn't help the proud smile that danced across her face as she watched him hold true to his words. "Naruto will be Naruto." She thought, her smile growing wider at Ibiki's obviously annoyed face.

Nine Genin quickly shuffled back to their seats, empowered by Naruto's performance. Sakura scowled at the only downside to her blond friends show of valor. Ibiki coughed, catching the attention of the remaining Genin once again as he glared darkly at Naruto.

Naruto grinned like an idiot before giving the signature thumbs up, and then was pulled none the too lightly back to the earth by Sakura by his pant leg, _"that boy still doesn't know when to take a hint."_ She mused, watching as Naruto whined about her being to harsh

"Well, Everyone who is still in this room-" Ibiki started, looking over the alarmingly high number of remaining shinobi, "You have passed!"

The entire room erupted into a chorus of whines and protest as sakura smirked, _"Surprise, Surprise._" She thought, chuckling at the sense of Déjà vu. Suddenly she felt a familiar chakra approaching at rapid speed, a very familiar chakra.

"**Is it-?" **Her inner thought before groaning simultaneously with her outer self.

"Thins are about to get real interesting." Sakura mumbled under her breath, counting down the seconds slowly on her fingers.

"_3, 2, 1."_ A small explosion rocked the room as purple fog rolled in, and finally faded out to reveal a somewhat crazy looking Kunoichi with purple hair, and rose-quartz eyes.

Ibiki groaned, "Anko, your early."

Sakura glared at him slightly, "Thank you captain obvious." She muttered under her breath, quickly turning her eyes back to her nee-Chan with curiosity.

"Alright Maggots, Anko's the name, and I'm the proctor for the second part of the exam!" Anko shouted, glancing around the room with a slightly crazed look in her eye. "Meet me at the forest of death tomorrow, 12:00 sharp! And don't be late!" she shouted, effectively causing over half the remaining genin to squirm uncomfortably in their seats.

Ibiki sighed, "Alright then, you're dismissed." He said, watching as the young ninja stampeded out of the room as fast as possible.

Anko smirked, "Wow Ibiki, you've gone soft. But I promise you I'll pick off over half of them tomorrow!" she taunted, poking his head in an annoying manor as he groaned.

"Sure thing Anko, just try not to kill all of them." He muttered, and then poofed away in a swirl of leaves.

Anko grinned victoriously and then turned to face Sakura, "Hey Pinky, hope you didn't forget training today. Meet you at our spot in five okay?" she asked, raising a slender eyebrow in question.

Sakura's minty green eyes lit up, "Course I didn't forget nee-Chan! Make it four!" she replied, licking her lips with a mock hunger in her eyes for battle as Anko chuckled and then poofed away in a slightly purple haze.

Sasuke's eye twitched slightly when he heard Sakura call Anko her 'nee-Chan', and unconsciously scowled at her_. "It's not fair, why does she get to have a family?"_ he thought, glaring at the back of the pink-haired girls head.

Sakura turned around, sensing Sasuke's angry aura and looked at him. "Oi, Uchiha! Cat got your tongue?" she teased, smirking at him. Naruto burst into laughter and Neji sighed, walking behind his pink haired teammate.

"Hn, so where's your precious team sa-ku-ra?" he asked, practically spitting the words out at her in a fit of emotion. Sakura's cheerful attitude immediately disappeared as her face went blank. "That's what I thought, annoying." He said, turning to walk away.

"Which one?"

Sasuke stopped, dead in his tracks and turned back around the meet Sakura eye to eye. "What?" he asked, daring her to repeat her question.

Sakura narrowed her eyebrows lightly, "I asked which one?" she said defiantly, and Sasuke answered her with a glare. "Because the way I see it, I've got two teams right now." She continued, taking a step toward him daringly. "I have an elite team of prodigy ninja." She started, gesturing lightly behind her towards Neji who smirked.

Naruto lowered his head and went seemingly unnoticed,_ " oh-no, Sakura-chan. What have we done to you?"_ he thought, silently devising an escape plan from the heartbreak that was sure to ensue.

"And I have you guys, I have my broken boys." She said, her voice a bit softer. Naruto's head immediately shot up and even Sasuke couldn't help but stare dumbfounded for a moment. Neji on the other hand understood his best friend completely, and knew she wasn't choosing one team over the other but she was shouldering the burden of both.

She drew a shaky breath, noting the presence of Kakashi in the doorway and continued, "I'm sorry I left you guys on your own, I'm sorry I left my family on their own." She said, unable to meet their eyes for a moment. "Teams, never leave their ninja behind, and I left you. I promise, I haven't given up on you guys yet though."

Naruto was close to tears, and Kakashi could only feel his heart pang with familiarity. _"She sounds just like Rin."_ He thought for a moment, before feeling his heart sink. _"What have I done?"_

Sasuke stared, shocked at Sakura's forgiving nature. _"What? She's apologizing to us? No! She's supposed to be angry and mad at us!"_ he thought frantically, unable to sort out his own emotions. In his own confusion he could only find one emotion he did recognize, and that was hate. "No! You're supposed to hate us!" he shouted, startling all but Sakura in the room. "Why do you keep forgiving us when we kicked you off the team! We abandoned you!"

Naruto's blue eyes widened in shock before he rushed forward, "Sasuke! What the heck!" he yelled, worried that their third teammate would never forgive them after this. Even Kakashi couldn't resist stepping into the room.

"No, Naruto it's okay." Her melodic voice said, drawing the blond ninja's eyes up to her own. The three boys of team seven were shocked to find a pool of unrestrained emotion in them.

_"She's not even trying to hold back her emotion, she letting it go freely?"_ Kakashi thought, staring down at the girl with sorry eyes.

Sakura smiled softly, "I'm not going to lie, it broke my heart when I heard you had expelled me from the team. But it made me realize that no matter what we will always be Team seven and you will always be my boys." She said, her voice hurt yet courageous at the same time.

"I realized it was a test for our bonds, and it made me realize that I couldn't give up on you guys. I now know that I'm going to have to fight to protect our bonds, to protect our friendship, our family. But I don't mind, and I know I may not be strong but I'll still try. After all that's all we really can do, is try and hope for the best." She looked down, smiling to herself for a moment.

"You don't have to agree with me, but know that it's your own words and actions that determine what happens to us now okay guys? I've made my decision to keep fighting for something that happened for a reason, now you need to make yours."

Naruto could only gape at this girl, "S-Sakura-Chan?" he whispered, blue eyes watering slightly when she smiled at him. He returned the smile ten-fold and allowed a tear to escape his eyes, "I'm going to keep fighting Sakura-Chan! Believe it!" he said, wiping at the tear with his sleeve.

"Just know though, that Team Guy has become just as much my family now as well. You have them to thank partially for my sanity." She chirped, noticing that Neji had slunk out of the room long ago. "Good, and know something else. We're going to have to fight against the world to preserve what we know, but the best part about it, is that we'll be fighting together against the world."

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore, barely able to restrain his own slightly watering eyes. "How can you forgive us? How do you forget what we've done?" he asked, unable to meet her wounded green eyes.

Suddenly her felt her small, warm hand on his shoulder and met determined spirit. "Because Sasuke, Shinobi who disrespect the rules are trash, but shinobi who abandon their team are worse than trash. Remember that."

Kakashi's head shot up, his eye widened with surprise and guilt as he watched Sakura walk out of the room. She stopped next to him and smiled ever so slightly, "Isn't that right, Kakashi-Sensei?" she whispered, and then turned to leave the room alone.

The three sat in silence for a moment, all-trying to process what had just happened. Naruto's blue eyes sparkled with determination, "She really believes in us, all of us huh?" he thought out loud, daring to lift his head and look at Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn't deny the fact he cared for her, as a teammate and as family. All thoughts of revenge, and killing Itachi were buried for a moment as his heart fluttered. "Hn, I guess your right Dobe." He breathed and then strolled out of the room with Naruto, both lost in the clouds.

Kakashi trembled slightly, shell-shocked before teleporting to a familiar memorial. "Obito, Rin. What have I done?" he asked, tracing their names on the stone absent-mindedly. Rain began to trickle down from the sky, but no clouds appeared.

* * *

><p>Sakura arrived at the training grounds, soaked to the bone from the rain as she and Kemuri walked slowly up. The Nin-Horse, both incredibly proud and worried about his companion.<p>

Anko trotted over to the pink-haired girl, and without warning pulled her off of her perch and into a tight hug. They both stood there for a moment, tears melting with the rain. "I'm so proud of you Sakura." Mumbled Anko, her voice muffled by pink hair in her face.

Sakura drew a shaky breath, "I-it was so hard. It h-hurt so much, but I-I feel better now." She sobbed, sandwiched between her sister and her Nin-Horse now.

Anko gently set the girl down, "Sakura, you know showing emotions is dangerous for a Ninja." She said, her voice suddenly turning stern.

Sakura looked up, her eyes suddenly glistening with pride, "Anko nee-Chan, can I ask you something?" she asked suddenly, startling the purple-haired jonin who nodded. "I-I think I want to be a different kind of Ninja, I don't want to die inside." She said, absent-mindedly wandering to the edge of the Hokage monument.

Anko gasped slightly, the nine and a half year old sounded very strange at the moment. "What do you mean?"

"Hmm, I think I'll keep my emotions, and I think it won't be so bad. After all, I could've never done what I just did without them." She said, still staring out into the rain. "Ya, that sounds nice. I'll let people say what they want, but I'm keeping my emotions, I'm going to be a Ninja with feelings Anko-nee chan. Just let the world watch me."

Anko smiled, almost sadly at her little sister. _"And that's why I believe you can change the world Sakura, you have the heart to do it."_ She thought, walking up beside the girl to stare at the rain with her.

"Hey! Sakura!" all three beings turned around to see TenTen running up the gentle backside slope of the mountain, followed by a quickly gaining Lee and Gai. Of course Neji was already at the top, concealed by the trees.

Sakura smiled, and waved to them before turning to Anko. "I forgot, I invited the team to training today? Is that okay?" she asked sheepishly, a twinkle in her eyes.

Anko laughed and nodded a yes before the girl was tackled to the ground by a green blur, "Ah! Lee get off!" she shrieked, shoving konoha's green beast off of her.

"Sorry our youthful blossom!" he said, seconds away form crying anime tears when Sakura laughed. Team Guy and Anko began to discuss training, all except for Neji who was still 'missing' so Sakura slunk away from the group.

Quickly she hopped into an old Pine tree and sat next to the Hyuuga prodigy, watching the rain with him for a moment when he suddenly engulfed her in a light hug and whispered, "You're the bravest of them all, Sakura."

Sakura snapped out of her shock hugging him back lightly before they released, "Think's Neji. You always seem to be looking out for me from the shadows." She whispered, sincere thanks conveyed through her eyes. "Now C'mon, or Anko's gonna send those slimy snakes of hers to hunt us down again!"

Neji and Sakura both shuddered, the latter despising snakes especially and they quickly jumped down form their tree, and joined the Specialized Jonin, Youthful Sensei, Miniature green beast, weapons mistress, and leader of the Nin-horse clan for training.

Though Sakura, considerably relieved at finally confronting her team still felt uneasy. She still felt watched, and was smart to think so as two pairs of eyes watched the team hungrily, or specifically Sakura.

End Note:

Phew-ee! It's finally done!

I ended re-writing the entire chapter so that's about 40 pages worth of writing people! All right tell me what you think about this and I know that it's a bit unbelievable of sakura's nature but trust me. That's what makes her special, it's her own little kekkai-genkai in a way. Anyway worked really hard on this chapter and the next should be up tomorrow morning or tomorrow night, no promises though! But more reviews do help!

**AND, PLEASE IN YOUR REVIEWS TELL ME WHAT PICTURE I SHOULD DRAW NEXT IN COORDINATION WITH TH STORY, AGAIN VISIT MY DEVIANT PAGE FOR THE PICS!**

Till next time~


	6. Chunin Exams: Part 2: Snake eyes

Born to Die

~Chapter 6~

The Chunin Exams-Part 2: Snake eyes

Disclaimer: Because i would be writing fan fictions if i owned the actual thing. pff, ya.

Author notes: OHHH YAA!

second part of the chunin exams baby! it's about to get interesting! Part two will be done in two chapters and part three in one or two but here ya go! enjoy and review!

"Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden."

~?

* * *

><p>Everything was shrouded in an eerie mist, and i scooted back. The air smelled of rotting flesh and death, and even the forest i was in sounded of peoples dying screams.<p>

Something sounded behind me, and i snapped around. my body froze as i looked into a pair of hungry, golden eyes.

"Who-o are you?" i gasped, only to be answered with a sadistic laugh.

"You'll find out soon enough, Sakura-chan." it hissed, and i blacked out. Only the smell still lingered.

The smell of rotting flesh reached her nose and her vision whited out, "Sakura! Sakura!" someone faintly called.

"H-Huh?" she mumbled, dimly aware that someone was shaking her violently.

"Sakura! Sakura wake up!" Anko yelled, continuing to shake the poor girl.

Sakura groaned, "Anko, Anko! Onee-san stop! I'm up!" She yelled, her voice slightly hoarse. Immediately she was engulfed in Anko's arms.

Anko sighed, "Geez kid. You almost gave me a heart attack!" she said, clutching her chest dramatically. Sakura raised an eyebrow, a 'go on.' look adorning her face. "Remember? Last night when we were training you insisted that it was the day you would beat Neji? Fine idea that turned to be."

Sakura blushed as the memories flooded back into her, "Oh Ya, maybe I should've waited on that?" she said sheepishly. Suddenly she remembered the dream, hissing in pain as the dragon shaped brand felt like it was on fire.

"Sakura! What's wrong?"

Sakura hissed in pain, waiting for the burning sensation to die down before she answered. "Ya, I'm fine Onee-Chan. Just slept on it the wrong way that's all." Giving a spirited grin before swinging her legs over the side of her futon.

**"Nice save."** Her inner commented. **"And I think we had best keep that dream to ourselves for now."**

Sakura glanced suspiciously at her alter ego. _"Thanks. And, why?"_ she asked.

Her inner shrugged, **"Dunno, I just have a funny feeling about it."** She said. Sakura nodded and bit back the urge to comment smartly about it being 'we' not 'I'.

"Hey! Pinky you paying attention?" Anko asked, snapping her fingers in front of the pinkette's face. Sakura snapped out of it and then nodded, receiving a grin from Anko. "Good, now go get dressed because lucky for you I have to be at the forest of death super duper early!" she chirped.

Sakura groaned and headed to the shower, mumbling an "oh joy." On her way.

Ten minutes later Sakura was fully dressed and ready to go. Anko leaned against the doorway, smirking deviously at the young ninja. Sakura raised an eyebrow suspiciously, "What?"

Anko broke out into a full-fledged grin and said, "Call the horse."

"And remind me why we need him to get to the exams?" Sakura asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she walked out the front door securing her katana to her hip.

Anko closed the door behind them, "Because Pinky, this year all the proctors have a bet going on who has the most flashy performance." She explained, walking out to the sandy path. "And no way in hell am I losing to scar-face."

Sakura giggled, "And Kemuri's going to help you win this bet?" she teased, and Anko gave a nod. "Well alright then. Nin-horse it is." She said, and then brought her fingers up to her mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

Thirty seconds later a groggy Kemuri stood in front of Sakura, obviously displeased with the early wake up call. "Sakura, Anko. Would either of you lovely Kunoichi care to tell me why I've been summoned at this ungodly hour?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his tongue.

Sakura laughed, "Apparently you've become a chip in Onee-Chan's bidding." She said, swinging onto the nin-horse with ease.

Kemuri grunted, " Oh joy. Remind me, when did I sign up for this?" he asked, shooting Anko a dirty glare as she mounted behind Sakura.

"You didn't have to." Anko teased, slapping the grouchy horses hindquarters. Kemuri snorted and then took off, loping down the streets of Konoha lazily, bathed in the pink light of dawn.

_**Loping:** A long, slow stride typically performed by horses in western sports. A slow, rocking canter._

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, they had reached the Forest of death and both Sakura and Kemuri not being creatures of morning cuddled up together close to a group of ANBU. Hours later, Anko was finished with her patrol so she sat down looking at the other proctors. "Well boys, I think it's obvious who wins this round of the competition."<p>

Ibiki Morino sighed, "You crazy woman, the second part of the Exam hasn't even started yet."

"Yes it has." Anko replied smartly.

Ibiki raised an eyebrow at her, "Since when?"

"Since I, the glorious proctor of this part of the exam said it did." She boasted, smirking triumphantly at the agitated interrogator. "Face it Scar-face, you'll never win!" she added, snatching up the last remaining stick of Dango that lay on the plate.

Gekkō Hayate sighed, "Anko, you really should think about the amount of Dango you eat. It's bound to be bad for you."

The purple haired proctor raised an eyebrow, "Who are you my mother?" she asked, throwing the naked Dango stick at him.

He of course dodged it, "No, I'm just saying-"

"OW!" Sakura shrieked.

All three proctors and several of the lingering ninja turned to see a red faced Sakura, "What the hell Anko!" she snarled, gesturing to the sharpened Dango stick now protruding from her neck.

Anko burst into a fit of laughter as Ibiki face palmed, "Are you seriously letting her go through with this?" Gekkō asked, pointing toward a still fuming Sakura who had stomped up next to them. "How was she even admitted in the first place Anko? After all she's only what? Nine and a half?"

Sakura's left eyebrow twitched, **"Did he just say what I think he said?"** her Inner growled.

Anko quickly got up and glared at Gekkō before saying, "Yes, and she made it because she kicks ass for her age and was obviously more than qualified to take it, for your information Hayate."

Sakura didn't hear a word of her defense though, _"Gekkō Hayate, welcome to my kill list. Meet aisle seven seat number three, you've just kicked it off the list."_ She thought, glaring at the proctor with vengeance.

"Excuse me, Hayate-san." She said, her voice sickeningly sweet.

Gekkō looked at the Genin, "Yes?" he asked.

Sakura smirked, and leaned in close to his face. "Rule #21, never underestimate an opponent. I highly recommend you write that on your hand or something, because it looks like your going to need it." She hissed, ripping the sharpened Dango stick from her neck with a spurt of blood and then walked away to the now growing group of Genin.

Gekkō looked forward, his appearance un-amused as he turned to Anko. "My God, Kami help us she's made a clone." Ibiki cut in, pointing at Anko with a kunai teasingly.

Anko slapped the kunai out of his hand and stood up, "Showtime." She said, smirking as she poofed to the front of the crowd in a purple fog.

Sakura felt the chakra flare and groaned, "here we go." She muttered, but was quickly distracted by the increasing sting in her left shoulder.

"Welcome kiddies, to training ground 44. Or as I like to call it… the Forest of Death!" Anko said, smiling devilishly at the panicked reaction of the Genin. A crazed, bloodthirsty glint in her eyes.

Ino gulped, "This place gives me the creeps." She squeaked, clutching Shikamaru's arm.

Sasuke didn't bat an eyelash at the trees, "Hn, I don't see what's so scary about it."

Anko grinned, "You should, they don't call this place _'the forest of death.'_ For nothing."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "They don't call this place 'the forest of death.' for nothing." He mocked, earning laughter from random ninja. A cocky grin emerged on his face, "Forest of Death. Pff. Do your worst!" Naruto shouted, "You're not going to scare me away! I can handle anything!"

Sakura restrained her self from face palming, _"Ugh, Naruto you dumbass. Now she's excited!"_ she thought watching the merriment of future pain flicker on Anko's face.

**"Great, way to go! You just got a bloodthirsty, strong, and mentally questionable special Jonin excited!"** her inner screeched, banging her head repeatedly on the walls of Sakura's sub conscious.

"So… looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy." Anko said, kunai in hand she flicked it at Naruto and it grazed his cheek before burying itself in the ground. Quickly she flickered behind him, "Are you tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you?" she whispered in his ear. " Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over the forest." She leaned in, practically petting the thin line of blood that ran from the scratch.

Sakura gulped, _"Oh Ya, she's definitely off her rocker today."_ She thought. Suddenly her arm burst into a flurry of pain, and she quickly grabbed it trying to subdue it. Her now bloodshot eyes caught movement.

One of the Grass ninja moved behind her, her own kunai in hand. Sakura's acidic green eyes flew open in fear, **"Oh no! Anko!"** she gasped, ignoring the burning pain in her arm as she made a move.

Kemuri had noticed the Grass ninja and was one step ahead of her though.

"I was… just returning your k-" The grass Kunoichi begun, but the cold bite of a metal kunai against her neck silenced her ridiculously long purple tongue.

Sakura glared savagely, "Drop. The. Kunai." She snarled, pressing the kunai a bit closer to the genin's neck. She could've sworn she had seen a look of sick pleasure flicker in the Nin's eyes before she felt the cool metal kunai in her palm. Though that too quickly faded as her flesh felt like it was burning again, almost unbearable now.

Anko coughed, "Why, thank you Grass-nin." She said, nudging Sakura out of her pain induced stupor long enough to lower her own kunai. "Though you know I only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end."

"My pardon. With the sight of blood on your blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid I became a little excited. I meant you no harm." The Grass-Ninja said, her voice syrupy.

Kemuri snorted at the implication a mere Genin could have hurt Anko, earning him a hungry stare from said Ninja as she slunk back to her team. Anko sighed, bored with this drama she continued, "Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered. There must be something in the air." She said, strolling back to the front of the crowd where everyone could see.

Sakura continued the grip on her arm, thankful for the now dying pain. _"I sure hope so."_ She thought, thinking maybe it was an allergic reaction of some sort as Kemuri trotted back to the spot where they were before.

"Now before we begin, I have something to hand out. Just a simple consent form that you brats have to read and sign before the test." Anko said, shuffling a large stack of paper.

"What for?" Naruto asked.

Kemuri shook his head, "He just wont shut up will he?" he whispered, earning a pained giggle from Sakura.

"Some of you may not come back from this test, and I have to get your consent or else I'm responsible." Anko said casually, and then handed the stack of papers to a random Genin to pass out.

"Now, let me explain how this works. First up, this is going to test any and all of your survival skills." She said, unrolling a large map. Sakura crawled up Kemuri's neck, and lay on her belly. She could easily see the map from her vantage point and began memorizing it.

"The terrain is important. Training ground 44 has 44 locked entrance gates. Inside you'll find a forest, rivers and some rocky drops. In the middle is a locked tower, exactly 10kilometers from each gate." Sakura almost fell of Kemuri's head.

_'You have got to be kidding me._" She thought.

**"Nope, no jokes here.**" Her inner replied.

Sakura groaned, "Aww man. But there's over 26 teams!" she whined out loud.

"You will be fighting to get either a Heaven or an Earth scroll. It's an anything goes fight to get your hands on them. I'll let you figure out the rest yourself." Anko said, rolling up the map.

"How do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked.

Anko smirked, "Ah, that's the fun part. You'll have five days to collect both scrolls, and then reach the central tower with your team fully intact and conscious. You hunt your own food, collect your own water all that fun stuff." She said. "It's not the academy anymore brats, no more holding hands."

Sakura gulped, and cast a glance at her teammates before scooting back down onto Kemuri's back. "Alright, everyone hand your release forms to your team leader and they will go turn them in for a scroll. Now scram!"

Everyone quickly burst into action. Sakura leaned down and handed her form to Neji who quickly went up and got a heaven scroll. Sakura breathed out, and rubbed her arm staring at the seemingly burned on dragon with interest. _"Why does it keep burning like that?"_ she wondered.

**"I don't know, but it's getting worse."** Her inner added.

Sakura nodded, _"Ya, especially around that Grass-ninja. Did you see their eyes? I could've sworn they were amber for a minute."_

Her inner silently agreed, and then crawled back to a far corner in Sakura's sub-conscious. Neji's commanding voice snapped her back to attention, "Everyone ready? Good, let's get a move on before the other teams do." He said.

"Hai!" Sakura responded in unison with TenTen and Lee. Neji quickly handed her most of the supplies the group was carrying, and she stuffed it into Kemuri's bags.

"Hey, since when was I the pack mule?" he whined. Sakura and TenTen laughed as she finished tightening the straps.

Sakura looked at Neji, "All set Neji. Shall we be on our way?" she asked, mock saluting to the Hyuuga.

Neji smirked, "Ah, let's shall."

Anko smiled weakly as Sakura and her team wasted no time in taking off. She sighed, her heart heavy and her mind clouded in fear of her little sister's safety. Anko had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, and couldn't help but feel that something bad was going to happen.

Gazing at the bottomless shadows that had swallowed up Sakura's team she smiled, "Be safe Sakura. My sister."

* * *

><p>Team Guy had travelled the entire day, agreeing to focus on retrieving an earth scroll later and trying to cover as much ground now. They had just finished setting up camp, and Sakura had returned with four plump Possum when a Team from Lightning conveniently showed up.<p>

They happened to have an earth scroll, and also happened to be ridiculously insistent on a battle there and then for Team Guy's heaven scroll.

So, now Sakura found herself face to face with their leader, a kunai was all that separated the two. _"How did this happen?"_ she thought, pressing against her own kunai harder.

Her inner snorted, **"Oh, I don't know. Maybe your stupid mark started burning again and the enemy jumped you? Smooth outer, smooth."** She said.

Sakura snarled at the enemy ninja, her shoulder way crying out in pain. _"Screw this!"_ she thought, and inhaled deeply. "Fire release: Flame bullet!" she breathed, exhaling a plume of fire onto the ninja.

"Nice try, but I'm done playing games." Whispered a husky voice behind her, and Sakura gasped.

_"But how?"_ she thought, her body trembling. Suddenly a tan flash appeared and she felt her body being picked up and carried away. "Kemuri!" she gasped, hugging the Nin-horse's neck.

"Sakura, you need to focus! That Ninja almost made you into sushi!" Kemuri said, eying her with a worried glance. Sakura stifled a laugh and nodded, putting on a pain twisted poker face.

Neji noticed his teammates injury and quickly appeared by her side, "Sakura, are you all right?" he asked, eying her agitated left arm worriedly.

Sakura opened her mouth to protest when another hot flash shot up her harm, and she bit her tongue, muffling an otherwise bloodcurdling scream. "M-My arm. The dragon mark o-on it k-keeps burning." She gasped, leaning against Kemuri for support.

Neji looked with growing worry at his best friend, "Sakura, maybe Kemuri should take you to the tower and you can get that looked at. I'm sure Anko-san wouldn't mind at-"

"No Neji!" Sakura hissed, sending him a look that could kill. "I'm not going to forfeit just because of some stupid scar!"

Suddenly two chakra signatures flared, and Neji sent a glance back to TenTen and Lee who were holding off the three Nin, and then at Sakura only to see her wide-eyed. "Sakura, what's wrong?"

She gasped, fear flashing through her eyes. "That Chakra." She whispered, her face pale and pasty.

Kemuri frowned, "What's wrong with it?"

"It's Naruto's, and Sasuke's."

* * *

><p>Sasuke panted heavily, his back against a tree. He gulped in air as quietly as he could, wincing when sweat trickled over the fresh wound on his leg. "That Genjutsu wasn't ordinary at all." He thought, peeking out from behind the tree.<p>

_"I've got to move fast or she'll find us! But how do I avoid her?"_ he thought, feverishly trying to devise an escape plan.

"Sasuke! Snake!" Sasuke didn't have time to react, as he was tackled head on by a blur of pink, and sent crashing to the forest floor.

In an instant he was on his feet, "What the He- Sakura?" he asked. She nodded before her eyes grew wide again, and Sasuke turned around to see a huge snake advancing. On instinct his hand flew to his shiruken pouch, drawing several of the throwing stars before throwing them expertly at the snake.

Sakura sighed in relief as she watched Sasuke's kunai hit the snake in the mouth, "That was a close one Sa-" she began, her relief short lived.

Suddenly the snake began to shed its skin, peeling back to reveal the same Grass Kunoichi from before. Her now amber eyes gazed hungrily over the two, landing on Sakura with a familiar, sickening glint that made her shudder.

**"You have got to be kidding me!"** Her inner whined, face palming.

Sasuke tensed and drew a Kunai in defense, while Sakura's free hand hovered over the handle of her katana before it was drawn away, and instead clutched the burning mark on her arm.

" Keep on your toes like good prey. It makes it so much more interesting for the predator." The Grass Kunoichi said.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, a feral, challenging look to them. "_No, I am always the hunter, never the prey!_" Sakura growled inwardly, but quickly snapped out of her daze when the ninja jumped to a tree, crawling up trunk and twisting around it much like a snake.

Sakura hissed, moments away from drawing her Katana when a gray blur rocketed from the trees behind them and collided with the women knocking her to the ground.

"Sorry Sasuke! I forgot the damn password…"

Sakura smiled and turned around, "Naruto! Thank Kami!" she whispered, quickly giving him a friendly hug as if to make sure he was really there. "Oh, and great throw Naruto!"

Naruto was surprised, "Sakura-Chan? What are you doing here?" he asked.

Sakura smiled weakly, the burning pain forgotten for a moment. "I felt your chakra flare, the both of you and I panicked. I didn't know if you were okay, or hurt, or even dead. I had to come and make sure my team was alright." She said, smiling with relief.

Sasuke suddenly stiffened, "Naruto, Sakura we need to run! This lady is way out of our league!" he said, the tone in his voice border lined nervous.

Both looked suspiciously at their teammate as he reached into his pocket, _"what is he doing?"_ Sakura wondered.

He drew out their earth scroll, " If it's the scroll you want, take it and leave!" Sasuke said, extending the scroll toward the grass Ninja.

Sakura snarled with dis-belief while Naruto yelled, "Teme! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He ignored Naruto's yelling and threw the scroll at the Grass shinobi, only to have Naruto dive in and snatch it from the Snake Ninja's grasp.

_"Nice save Naruto."_ Sakura thought, and then turned around. She glared at Sasuke, her acid green eyes glinted like a tigers, " Sasuke you idiot! Did you honestly think he would've let us just get up and go even if we gave him the scroll?" she hissed.

**"Aww crap."** Her inner said.

Sakura groaned, _"What is it now?"_ she asked, doing everything she could just to not cry as the burning seemed to increase.

**"Snake eyes over there just summoned."**

Sakura turned around, only to see a familiar face staring back at her. The grass shinobi stood atop the head of a huge, purple snake. Her eyes narrowed, a savage glint to them. "Manda.." she hissed, addressing the snake king she had seen Anko summon once before.

**"Okay, what the Hell is going on here?"** Her inner asked, confused as to why this freak of a foreign shinobi could summon the same thing her nee-Chan could.

Sakura was about to reply when Manda sprung, aiming straight for an unmoving Sasuke. She panicked, "Sasuke! No!" she shrieked inwardly, turning only to see-

" Hey you okay…" Naruto said, his body pressed against the mouth of the snake stopping him. His eyes stained red with the Kyuubi's chakra.

Sasuke seemed to freeze when Naruto smiled at him, "You big Chicken!"

The pink-haired Kunoichi grinned at Naruto, marveling at his bravery. Her grin melted into a fearful grimace when a long, purple tongue wrapped around Naruto's neck and he was jerked face to face with the Ninja.

"Naruto!" She cried as her knees buckled under her because of her burning mark. Unshed tears threated to fall as she watched the Snake like ninja go through a flurry of hand signs, and raised Naruto's shirt to reveal a glowing seal.

"Gogyou Fuuin!"

Naruto's bloodcurdling scream echoed through the forest as the Ninja's glowing fingers jammed into the blonde's stomach. Instantly, all the red chakra retreated back into his belly. The Grass ninja then tossed Naruto away like a piece of trash.

Sakura reacted purely on instinct and drew a kunai, flinging it at Naruto so that it pegged him to the giant tree trunk behind him by the collar of his obnoxious orange jacket. Ultimately saving him from a deadly fall.

She breathed a shaky sigh of relief and thought, _"that was close."_

Her inner agreed, **" Too close."**

Keeping a tight grip on her throbbing shoulder Sakura stood up, and turned to face a motionless Sasuke. Suddenly she felt anger bubble up inside of her, _" What the Hell! He just stood there and watched the entire thing! Naruto could've died!"_ she thought, unconsciously letting a demonic growl slip past her lips.

She narrowed her eyes, and then stalked over to Sasuke and slapped him- hard.

" What the hell Uchiha! Get a fucking grip on yourself, and stop standing there like some useless pansy ass!" She snarled, meeting Sasuke's startled eyes with her own enraged ones.

"Naruto might be a loud, annoying, blond idiot. But at least he isn't a chicken who gives up like you!"

Sharingan flickered on, " Arigato Sakura." He whispered, and then charged engaging the foreign Nin in battle.

Sakura smirked, but it quickly twisted into another scowl of pain. _"Damn! I feel the burning get worse every time I get close to that shinobi."_ She hissed inwardly, biting her tongue so she wouldn't scream.

**"She seems, slightly familiar."** Her inner added.

Her outer nodded in agreement, thinking of the amber eyes that plagued her memory. _"It's the eyes. I've seen them before."_ She whispered, glaring daggers at the enemy while they thought.

"My, My S-Sakura-S-s-san. I didn't expect to s-s-see you here." Hissed Manda, his green eyes staring hungrily at his prey.

Sakura snarled and shot to her feet, defiantly staring the giant serpent in the eye. "You backstabbing summon. Anko will be sorry to hear that you will no longer be of service when I'm through with you." She growled, baring slightly sharpened teeth at the snake.

He reared up, appalled by her puny threat. "Respect your s-s-superiors girl. You would've lived longer." He hissed, getting ready to strike.

Sakura roared at the snake summon, unsheathing her special katana._ "I have to make this quick, before the burning gets any worse."_ She thought, tensing up to strike.

**"We should just send him away, and then plan to let Anko deal with him later."** Her inner suggested, eyes twinkling at the prospect of the endless torture her sister could come up with.

Sakura nodded, quickly focusing back on Manda. "S-s-stupid girl" He hissed, lunging forward to sink a poisoned fang into his victim.

Sakura held her ground, and performed a flurry of hand seals. She drew her fist back, and waited until the serpent's massive nose was just inches from her own before shouting, "Summon banishment no Juutsu!" and then striking him square in the nose.

Almost instantly, the giant snake faded away. Sakura sighed in relief, her body trembling. "That took way more out of me than I thought." She whispered, staggering around.

"Fire Style: Dragon flame Juutsu!"

Sakura's head whipped around just in time to see Sasuke exhale, balls of fire darted out and onto the wire lines he held. They quickly reached their now captive grass Nin, setting her to flames.

She grinned, trotting painfully over to the Uchiha's side. "Way to go Sasuke-kun!" she cheered, earning a rather unimpressed look from him._ "wait, when the hell did I start using -kun?"_ she thought.

Her inner seethed with anger,** "Well, when you learn how to do the Dragon flame bomb technique, oh mighty Uchiha. Then come talk to me."** She spat, glaring at him.

Sakura snarled lightly, _"Ya, what you said."_ She thought. All of the sudden a smell wafted by her nose, causing her to almost collapse under the stench. It smelled of rotting, burning flesh just like in her dream and that alone was enough to strike terror in her heart.

With frightened eyes she and Sasuke looked at the Nin as she turned around. " Her face. It looks like. It's melting." She whispered, her voice trembling slightly. Sasuke glared at the melting ninja, " not only that, but it seems there is something else, something underneath."

"Marvelous… Simply Marvelous." The Snake Ninja applauded, " That one so young would have such a mastery over the powers of the sharingan… I was right to come after you after all."

Sakura growled viciously, trying to hide the waves of fear crashing through her. "Sasuke." she said, stalking to his side protectively.

"You truly do live up to the name Uchiha." The ninja said, waving a hand over the symbol of their Hitai-ate to reveal a musical note.

Green eyes recognized the hidden villages symbol, " Otogakure.." she hissed under her breath. The shinobi's golden orbs jumped between her and Sasuke, looking at him with want and longing, while her like she was someone he knew that was supposed to be gone.

"You really are his brother, aren't you? You have potential… Such power… There are you can see and conceal with those eyes that Itachi never dreamed of."

Sakura's eyes darkened almost as much as Sasuke's did at the mention of Itachi's name, and her growling increased ten fold. "How do you know that name?" Sasuke ground out, "Who are you?"

"My name?" the Ninja asked, his voice almost humored. " My name is Orochimaru…The Sannin of the Snake…"

Sakura acidic green eyes burst open in pain, a loud, bloodcurdling scream escaped her lips as she sunk to the ground clutching her left arm and head in a vice grip. _"It hurts… it burns! Why does it hurt?"_ she gasped inwardly.

Sasuke panicked when his pink-haired teammate collapsed, and he instantly dropped to her side watching as she writhed in pain. "Sakura? Sakura are you okay?" he asked, shaking her side a little. He quickly jumped to his feet, "What the hell did you do to her?" he demanded.

Orochimaru chuckled, phasing behind the unsuspecting Uchiha. "I'm just finishing the job I failed to complete 8 and a half years ago Sasuke-kun." He hissed, breathing on the paralyzed boys neck. " You will come to me Sasuke-kun… when you seek power. Until then."

Long fangs protruded from the Sannin's mouth, piercing the soft flesh on Sasuke's neck with ease. He collapsed to the ground, screaming and jerking in spasms of pain.

Orochimaru watched the boy for a moment, licking the savory blood off of his pale lips before he turned. An impressed smirk appeared on his face, "Well, well, well. I certainly didn't expect to s-s-see you here, little S-s-sakura." His hissed, snatching her up by the neck.

His actions were met by her animalistic snarls as she tried desperately to bite him; her green eyes glowed savagely as she thrashed about like a cornered animal. "My, my S-s-sakura-Chan, look who's still under daddies protection." He said, eying the flustered dragon brand with vengeance.

"Kuku, I think it's time to grow up little S-s-sakura-Chan, and I'll leave you with a little gift of your own as a reward for escaping me all those years ago." His fangs appeared again, but this time his hands blurred longer, forming more intricate hand seals.

Orochimaru's golden eyes sparkled with lust as he sunk his teeth into the tender flesh on the right side of her neck, relishing the blood that sprayed onto him. Licking his lips he dropped her, "Mmm, your blood tastes just like mine little S-sakura-chan. Only innocent." He said, and then turned around. "Until then, my little dragon."


	7. Chunin Exams: Do you believe in dragons?

Born to Die

~Chapter Seven~

Chunin Exams: Part 2 ~ Do you believe in Dragons?

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure I don't own Naruto and he belongs to Kishimoto, but please correct me if I'm wrong!

Author notes:

EEEE! SORRY!

I know I'm like two days late again! Sorry! I revised this multiple time to get it right and its huge. Anyway please enjoy this chapter but first let me get a couple of thing straight.

One~ Sakura's strength/ skill level

Sakura is not a super powerhouse even at the end of this chapter! She is currently below the skill level of Neji, Sasuke, Naruto (in actual battle) and Gaara! So no she is not some super powered freak – yet. Like on a scale of 1-10 with Neji, Gaara and Sasuke being 8's and Naruto being like a 7.5-8 sakura would be a 7-7.5 before the events in this chapter and a 7.5-8 later on

Two- Her age!

Sakura is about 9 years and 8 months old now. The rest of the genin (excluding Team guy and Gaara's siblings) are about 10 ½ to 11 ½ ya I know their a bit younger than usual but hey! Its fan fiction!

And lastly!

Who should Sakura get together with!

Gaara

Neji

Itachi

(ya I know, small list but if you have suggestions review them to me!)

Quote

"The Spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure."

~Vince Lombardi

"Never let your head hang down. Never give up or sit down and grieve. Find another way!"

~Satchel Paige

* * *

><p>Death…<p>

It was everywhere. The air smelled of rotting flesh. The world sounded of dying screams. My mouth tasted of that all to familiar metallic tang, and my skin was warm, and sticky with the crimson syrup.

I could only do one thing, and that was think.

"_What the hell is going on?"_

Oh yes, that and panic. Mm, Panicking sounded like a fabulous idea at the moment and so I tried it. Only to have my plans utterly destroyed by a break in my deadly little world.

The salty yet sweet smell of an Ocean breeze and saltwater taffy assaulted my nose, and shortly after I realized the warmth I felt wasn't from blood, but from a woman's arms cradling me close to her.

Again, _"What the hell?"_

But, this time for another reason. Everything seemed so familiar about this stranger. Her scent caused a strange, warming, nostalgia in the pit of my stomach and her heartbeat soothed my erratic soul.

A memory faintly glowed just out of the reaches of my mind. I had to know, and I had to see it - or them with my own eyes and so I took a deep breath, and cracked a cautious eye open.

I quickly fell into the clutches of a flashback; one of only two I had received since loosing my memory when I was six.

_Long, Silky, Onyx hair tickled my face, and I looked up into their polar opposite. Staring back at me was a pair of endless, loving, pearly eyes that calmed me instantly._

"_Okaa-San!"_

The memory, though short lived was fantastic.

I looked up, and was attacked by the same combination of hair and eyes that reminded me strangely of Ying and Yang.

"_Okaa-San!"_ I thought, my heart overflowing with joy at the discovery of one long lost parent.

The warm, fuzzy feeling in my stomach molded into a sickening brew when I saw her face. It was barely short of maimed, though still strikingly beautiful. Cuts, bruises, and blood littered her comforting features and I dared myself to wonder exactly whose blood was sticking to my skin.

She was breathing heavily, and I could tell she was running away from something. I whimpered and caught her attention, "It's okay Sakura." She whispered, her voice hoarse with fatigue. "We're going to be okay. Just hush until we get out of her, okay?"

I was already swimming in questions, _"What's so wrong with this-"_

Bad idea. The minute my vision strayed from Okaa-San's face I was reminded of why I had been literally 'scared to death' earlier. The world seemed to be one, enormous, bloody collection of carnage. There was blood everywhere, blood on the earth, blood in the sky, blood on the hundreds of slaughtered people, blood on the burning buildings, and blood on us.

I was snapped out of my reverie when Okaa-san jerked to a halt, her chest rising and falling much to fast under me. Short, fuzzy hair fell into my line of view and I looked at it curiously because it was a dark, ashy blonde.

'_What the hell?'_ I know, I seemed to frequent that phrase recently but last I had checked my hair was _pink_ – not blonde. Okaa-san and I were the only ones here, and I knew it wasn't hers so that meant it must be – mine?

Okaa-san gasped and cried out, "Raiden!" her voice heavy with relief. Seconds later we were attacked in a deadly hug, a whisper escaped them.

"Kiyoko, thank Kami your safe." His voice was smooth, deep, and awkwardly familiar. So I chanced a peek up at this person.

_A boisterous laugh somewhat akin to Naruto's rang out, loud and clear. The owner's butterscotch locks trembled, but still remained upright as if they were never endingly gelled. I would've called him Naruto had his hair not been such a dark shade of blond, and had I not seen his eyes. Merry, enchanting, Hunter green orbs laughed and the scent of a redwood thicket and cinnamon bombarded my senses._

"_Otou-San!"_

Talk about a crazy day. I gazed up and found myself staring right at my very own Otou-San and Okaa-San. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to cry tears of happiness at finally meeting them.

Okaa-san smiled weakly, a tear escaped her milky eye. "Ah, of course Raiden. I was so worried about you though!" she whispered.

My Otou-san nodded before looking from me and back to Okaa-san. "I'm fine. C'mon we need to leave now and get Sakura out of here before he-"

Why must all good things come to an end?

A frightening chill crept up my spine and I shivered. My parents tensed and an ominous, cold-blooded, and sickening laugh rattled the air around us.

"Ku-ku-ku-ku, Leaving s-so s-soon Kiyoko-Chan? Raiden-Kun? Pity, I was hoping I could meet that daughter of yours first."

I didn't need a flashback to know who it was, but the mere thought that _he _could be _here_ did well to scare the living shit out of me. Yet I still looked. Disturbingly familiar saffron eyes met my own, Orochimaru's saffron eyes. Oh shit.

Okaa-San bristled up, immediately snarling toward the Snake-Sannin while Otou-san roared at him. "Fuck off Orochimaru! There is nothing Sakura has that you could possibly want, so how about you haul your slimy ass back to Otogakure where it belongs!"

I could've laughed at my Otou-San had this not been so serious. Orochimaru half-smirked and half-scowled, "Don't play s-stupid with me Raiden-kun, you and I both know exactly what S-Sakura-Chan has that everyone wants. Don't relatives get first pick, Raiden-kun?" Snarl. "Fine, you oversized lizards just can't s-seem to get the message. Allow me to personally beat it into you."

In an instant, crimson, ash, and lavender Chakra flames enveloped the area including me. I felt no pain and ventured to open my eyes – only to be amazed for the umpteenth time that day. One, big, ugly, ashen snake hissed toward me, and two dragons.

My Dragon mark tingled uncontrollably but I managed to ignore it and instead focus on the two dragons that I knew had to be my parents. Otou-san – though already wounded was magnificent. His Goldenrod coat shone with power as his jet-black mane whipped madly around, but his eyes bled to crimson. Three, black tomeyoes swirled angrily and I gasped – Sharingan.

Okaa-San snarled deeply and drew my attention to her. Bloody, and injured she was gorgeous to say the least. Her pale, moonlit silver coat complimented the golden tone in Otou-San's well. Her mane was a light onyx that hinted with purple, and her eyes burned savagely toward her enemy, the veins standing out around them.

" You've got once chance Orochimaru, leave now and live. Or fight and die." She snarled, talking through her mind as not to drop the cloth I was swaddled in.

Orochimaru chuckled evilly, " No, no my dear Kiyoko-Chan. It is you that will die today along with your low life mate." He hissed. " Hand over Sakura-Chan and I will spare your insolent lives. The choice is yours, Kiyoko-Chan."

"No. Never. No-Fucking-Way." Okaa-San growled and dropped to a defensive crouch.

Otou-San roared wickedly, baring his dagger-like teeth. "In your dreams, you pedophile!"

An irritated scowl blossomed on Orochimaru's face, "Fine then, Death it is."

Of course I just had to blackout now. The searing pain of my freshly inflicted curse mark – Courtesy of Orochimaru – had returned and pulled me from my flashback-happy comatose.

Only to be brought back moments later by a bone chilling, bloodcurdling scream.

If that scream wasn't mine, then I must've made my own right now because instead of watching an epic battle between my parents and that sick, snake bastard. I was watching him eye me like a cross between a hungry tiger, and a rapist with those inhuman amber eyes of his.

And my parents? Dead beside me, thanks for asking. What the fuck! Since when did the villain ever beat the heroes?

The nauseating smell of Okaa-San's and Otou-San's blood snapped me out of my thoughts. I quickly discovered – much to my horror – that I lay between them, in a pool of their blood. It must've been a last ditch effort to save me.

I trembled uncontrollably as Orochimaru stalked forward, "Ku-ku-ku-ku, S-Sakura-Chan it has been a while hasn't it?" He said, his voice sent me into a fit of complete horror. He towered ominously over me, but surprisingly reached over and ran a pale finger over my Okaa-San's even paler face.

For just a split second, a look of true sorrow, or depression, maybe even regret flickered across his face. " I truly wished it didn't have to end this way, my little Imouto-Chan. Rest in peace." He whispered and as quick as the emotion was there it was schooled away again.

Shocked couldn't even begin to describe how I felt at that moment. _"Fuck no… Imouto my ass…" _I thought, but in my gut I knew he wasn't using some sick pet name._ "Oh, Kami-Sama I must be cursed…"_

His golden eyes quickly moved to me, "Ah, Sakura-Chan the time has finally come. Time to join your only remaining family, my little dragon." He crooned, leaning down next to my neck.

My eyes widened in fear, "_Hell no! Not again! Not again!" _I hissed inwardly, squirming under my blood soaked blankets.

His icy breath fanned my neck, "Here's my present to you, Happy first birthday Sakura no Ryuu." He breathed, and I could only sit and await the inescapable fate that I was doomed to now.

"Damnit! We were to late!" Maybe Kami-Sama has a soft spot for me?

Orochimaru's head jerked back at an alarmingly fast rate, and an irritated scowl marred his face. "S-so, those brats finally caught up to me?" he asked, obviously pissed that someone had shown up.

"Orochimaru's destroyed the entire place. What the hell was he looking for anyway?" a feminine voice asked, sorrow painfully evident.

The Snake-Sannin clenched his fists before turning to me. In a flash he was by my ear again, "Do not worry, little dragon. We will meet again." He hissed. "Be ready, because when we do you'll prove your worth of being the last Dragon alive. Until then, Sakura-Chan."

And then he was gone, and I quickly succumbed to the harsh clutches of unconsciousness. I floated through the somewhat familiar, black, never ending void that comatose provided.

* * *

><p>I wanted to give up, to let go, and to <em>die<em>. My parents were dead, my home – destroyed, my kind – eliminated. And the cherry on top of the cake for this whole disaster was Orochimaru, one of _the_ legendary Sannin, defect of Konohagakure, was my fucking UNCLE! Why in hell's name would I want to live?

A biting pain in my arm is what answered me, and I looked. My Dragon mark had crawled down my arm, reaching to my elbow and was now glowing a faint green with chakra. I don't know how the hell this helped anything but it did.

It gave me hope, and more importantly it reminded me that I couldn't give up. Why? Because I had something worth fighting for. Like hell was I going to just lie down and die now! Let Orochimaru win – when hell freezes over!

Pain shot through my neck, and I was reminded of his own personal tag he had on me now. I smirked. Pain was good, you had to live to feel pain, and the living could kill. I gripped my neck hard; trying to quell the pain with pressure because even though pain was good it didn't mean it was pleasant.

A wisp of carnation hair danced in the corner of my vision. Well at least one good thing came out of this – I finally had the answer to my alien hair color. What happens when you add red to blond? You get pink. Add Blood to an infant's dirty blond hair and presto! Instant pink haired person!

In my perspective, it was simply a reminder of what happened to them. They died protecting me, and I'll return the favor by killing the man – no thing that destroyed everything I had. Orochimaru.

Light began to attack my vision and I cringed, forcing myself to stay awake so I wouldn't be going up into the light rather than back toward my own.

Just as the last of my unconscious realm was fading I heard a voice call out to me.

Okaa-San's voice.

"Sakura? Sakura promise me something? Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Remember that, and you can do anything my little cherry blossom."

Her melodic voice drifted away, and left me a whole new Sakura.

No longer will I steal glory from the name Mitarashi Sakura.

No longer will I hide under the name Haruno Sakura.

Today I am Sakura no Ryuu, and now I will live under that name like it was always meant to be. But first, I had a little something to settle.

Something to settle with someone who did accept their name – the name that I now shared – but hid from it.

* * *

><p>Pain…<p>

Pain was the first thing Sakura could think of when her conscious returned to her. The burning pain in her neck because of the curse mark, the dull, throbbing pain of unconsciousness, but most severe of all was the constricting pain in her lungs and heart. – The pain of losing your precious ones.

"**What the hell was that?" **Ah! Her Inner had – as usual – uncanny timing.

Sakura chuckled inwardly, _"I – We just found and lost the only family we had. The family we didn't even know we had." _She said, her tone a cross between sorrow and hatred.

"**I'm aware of that dumbass, I saw it too. Now, What are you going to do about it?"** Her Inner asked, both aware of the growing flame that had lighted inside Sakura's soul.

Said Kunoichi grinned, _"First, we're going to get up and off __our__ lazy Asses." _She thought, _"And then, we're going to kick that Snake-Bastard's ass to hell where it belongs."_ The flame grew.

Her inner self cheered, **"YA! We totally kick ass! Shannaro!" **and her Inner-Self fanned the monstrous fire that grew inside of her Outer-Chan.

"_Yes Inner, but we'll do it how we were supposed to. As a Ryuu."_ And then, the flame exploded, engulfing her in its power, it's spirit, and changing her very being.

Sakura felt her eyelids flutter open, revealing savage, jade orbs that burned with their owner's fighting spirit. A sadistic smirk crept its way onto her face, revealing dagger-like teeth that could rival Kisame Hoshikage's. She silently clawed the ground, her talons leaving inch deep marks in the bark even with little effort.

A feral, untamable feeling filled her being, giving her the strength to fight. Killing intent rose from beneath her ferocious nature and near consumed her, but she would not give in to the curse mark.

That meant giving into him. It meant Orochimaru won. Like shit she was going to let that happen.

A snarl erupted from her throat; the very sound of it commanded fear and respect. "Ah, so we meet again Orochimaru." Sakura growled, her voice alone could make most Chunin cringe with fear. "I do apologize that it has to come to this, your death will be much untimely –"She grinned, and licked her lips in anticipation. "Uncle."

The Snake Sannin stood frozen with his back to the dragoness. "Ku-ku-ku-ku. Confident aren't we S-Sakura-Chan?" he questioned. "I must admit your recovery was much impressive but, you did always take after your mother. S-so headstrong, and s-spirited. It is a s-shame I cant allow that to continue on now."

"**What did you say?" **her Inner self hissed, already boiling with anger.

Her jade orbs widened momentarily at the talk of her Okaa-San, but anger took precedence in her heart and she stalked forward a step. "SHUT UP!" She yelled, her jaws snapped over and over again with hatred. "You don't deserve to say talk about her Orochimaru! You don't deserve to be associated with her! You didn't deserve her!"

She had managed to strike a nerve in the great Snake Sannin – something unheard of.

In a flash said Snake Sannin had turned on her, hands already blurred with hand signs " Summoning Technique: Manda!" he bit his thumb, drawing blood that he then smeared along a tattoo on his left arm.

Though Sakura didn't bother to stick around and hear who he summoned, and in an instant she had pounced on Orochimaru. Her claws and teeth were engulfed in fire like chakra as she attacked the snake, but the instant she landed a hit - he disappeared.

"Shit." She cursed. "_I can't believe I fell for a shadow clone!"_

Her Inner groaned, **"Neither can I."**

Sakura roared, the trees trembling slightly in her presence. "Come out and fight me you coward!" she yelled, her acidic green eyes searching the forest canopy for Orochimaru.

" A S-Shadow clone? You fell for a genin level Jutsu? Pathetic, truly pathetic you overgrown lizard." Sakura's eyes widened, her body frozen to the spot.

"_Crap, forgot about the summon."_ She gulped.

Her alter ego nodded hesitantly, **"And guess who's dragged their slimy ass back here for round two." **Electing a snarl of annoyance and shock of fear from her outer.

"_Manda."_

Manda chuckled, "I'm amazed the Sannin had to S-Summon me for this. Oh well, his loss." He hissed. The dragoness quickly turned tail, pushing off a tree for extra speed but Manda snapped out like a whip catching her streamline body with his teeth.

"AHH!" Sakura cried, her body immediately numbing from the stupid snake's poison. She panicked and lashed out, reacting purely on the raw instinct to survive now.

Manda struggled to keep her under control, "S-stop struggling beast." He hissed earning another round of viscous attacks from his captive. His body was already considerably damaged from the fury of her, and - though he would never admit it – he wasn't going to last much longer.

Sakura growled, "Sure, I'll get right on that you overgrown worm!" and continued her relentless attack on the King Snake.

"**As soon as you admit we're the superior species. You legless excuse for a dragon." **Her Inner snorted, adding a bit of humor to the tense moment.

The Ivory dragon's breathing was heavy, a concoction of sweat and blood matted down her coat as she continued to struggle against the enormous, purple snake who insisted on keeping her captive.

Her patience was growing thin, and she could tell that the Snake was waiting for it to snap before she attacked. Inwardly she smirked, '_Good, just keep it up Manda. You'll never break me._' She thought, her resolve now restored and continued to mess with Orochimaru's summon.

"God Damnit! Just bit me already would you?" She snarled, her tone held nothing but disrespect and attitude.

Manda reared back in disgust, "You insolent little brat! I've s-spared your life long enough!" He hissed, and lunged toward the bratty dragon with fangs poisoned and poised to strike.

But Sakura was faster, and just as Manda was moments away from biting her she struck. Managing to free a paw she had lashed out, catching her captor across the side of the face with a chakra enhanced swipe.

"**Go Outer-Chan! Shannaro!"** Her inner self cheered. Sakura growled at the snake, and quickly slipped from his loosened coils when he retreated in pain.

"_Served him right too."_ she thought, "_That's definitely going to leave a mark."_ And indeed it would. The Snake king would forever bear evidence of the dragons scratch over his face now, and would never see the light of day from the left ever again.

But as she stalked away she thought, _"It can't be that easy can it?"_ and he moment she turned around she met irritated Saffron eyes, and felt a painful paralyzation jutsu attack her. "Damn it…" she cursed, buckling under the added pain of her burning curse mark.

Orochimaru chuckled, "Foolish little dragon. Did you really think you could escape that easily?" he questioned, an amused glint in his eye.

Sakura snarled at him as best she could, "In all honesty yes." She spat, "I figured once I finished off your little slave over there I'd go after you."

The snake Sannin's smirk quickly melted into an irritated scowl, " I would suggest you hold your tongue, Sakura-Chan." He hissed, probing her cursed mark and earning a cry of pain. "After all, your not exactly in a position to be smart-mouthing me now are you?"

Sakura growled, her jade orbs staring defiantly into his. "I will not back down." She grunted, "Not now, not ever, and besides since when did you have the authority to tell me what to do." Her voice was scarily calm.

Orochimaru's smirk dropped, and he leaned closer into her wolfish face. Looking at the dragon he mused, _'Ku-ku-ku, I'll have to admit. If I was a weak shinobi I would be quite frightened by now.' _His eyes never strayed from hers, and thus kept her weakening body paralyzed.

"You forget dear S-sakura-Chan that I am your Oji (Uncle) and you should treat me as such." He said, chuckling when her face twisted into that of disgust.

"Alright, fine O-J-I san." She spat, spraying his face with saliva and blood. "Bull, I don't care if you were my Hokage I'd still treat you like the useless, lowlife, disgusting, shitty, cowardly vermin you are." She paused for a moment, and then snorted in his face. "And nothing would ever change that."

"**Wow…"** Her Inner self gawked, and Sakura couldn't help but feel her confidence flicker a bit as Orochimaru's face remained blank.

The Snake Sannin and Dragon were face-to-face, and eye-to-eye. His cold, icy breath met her own, hot and burning. He was the prodigy of his generation, but the one that defected for power gained through any means possible. She was the heir that gained the power he was always supposed to have, and she was the spirited one, never rejecting those for power.

It royally pissed him off.

Orochimaru felt the hatred boil up inside of him, and his patience snapped completely. "Look here brat, I've lost my patience dealing with your weak, pathetic attempts." He hissed.

Sakura cringed in pain under the glare of his intimidating Zircon orbs. The Jutsu he had her under was frighteningly similar to the powers of the Sharingan, but the catch was it only worked on those with a cursed seal.

Lucky her, she just happened to fit the requirements and she was paying for it. The burn of her internal organs being poisoned brought tears to her eyes, but still she fought desperately to stay strong. Losing was simply not an option.

"Do you know why so many people fear me S-sakura-Chan? Hmm?" he asked, a sickly cold tone in his voice. She answered him with only silence and the sound of her troubled breaths, and to that he cackled. "Ah, s-see fear is natural upon seeing me. I am not afraid to kill; I do not care who I kill, or what I kill. It is just one step closer to the ultimate goal."

He leaned closer into her face if even possible, "You need to learn fear, and it's your lucky day for I am your S-sensei."

Her Orbs paled to a sickly Peridot as realization dawned on her – he was going to kill her. A fear unlike any other swept through her bones and they buckled causing her to fall to the ground – to his feet.

Panic. She was living it, and at that moment Sakura's whole world was crashing down on her. _'I don't want to die! I can't die!'_ she thought feverishly, _'He's going to kill me to! Just like mom and dad!'_

Shame. Sakura realized that her failing body had moved on from panic, and now she was ashamed. _"What will Anko Onee-Chan think of me? What will Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi-Sensei, Guy-Sensei, Gaara, Neji – what will Otou-San and Okaa-San think?' _

She felt her fire fade to near non-existent when she dared to answer her question, _'they would be disappointed in me. I will have failed them.'_ She thought hopelessly.

Orochimaru laughed, enjoying the show of his victim thrashing in pain upon the forest floor. "S-See S-sakura-Chan? This is why you fear me." He hissed. "Like your insolent parents you lack the intelligence to have common sense."

Memories flashed before her eyes. Memories of her parent's death.

"Your just as much a pitiful, sorry creature as they were. Your kind only deserved one thing-"

'_No! No!'_ She writhed in pain. She could feel their blood on her skin, she could see their cold faces, and she could smell their death all around her._ 'All my fault!'_

"Death. I simply gave them what they deserved, death. It's time for you to give up little dragon, it's over - You're over, and you've lost." The burn of her organs increased, "Your death will come soon, but know this little dragoness. You are weak, and would never have made any a difference in the world. You were born to die."

The Searing burn of poison eating away at her organs, the bite of her curse mark, and the pain of knowing nothing but failure engulfed her in the sweet escape of unconsciousness.

Sakura cried in the inky black realm, "Why am I so weak? I let him win?" she sobbed, "The least I could do was beat the snake, but I couldn't even do that."

She felt lost, hopeless, and useless – or so she thought. The flame she thought had long since extinguished inside of her flickered back to life once more – because it refused to give up.

'_Sakura…'_ the voice ghosted by her ear but she knew it immediately – it was her Okaa-San's voice. "_Sakura, remember this. Life isn't meant to be easy but remember what's important in it all. Just because someone else thinks its impossible doesn't mean we wont stand up and try the hell anyway. Never give up and never let anyone tell you you're too weak to stand up to them…"_

Fear, misery, and pity – it all vanished from her soul upon hearing her Okaa-Sans words. The Flame exploded in her heart, and determination flooded her veins.

"_Sakura…"_ Her heart warmed as her Otou-San's merry chime rang throughout the darkness. "_When you feel like there is nothing left to fight for, nothing left to live or die for. Remember the people that believe in you, that protect you, that stand by your side – Fight for them. Continue on, Fight on because you know there will always be the people who see you as a hero, as someone who no matter what the odds will find a way to do what's right. You're their shining light sakura, and don't ever forget that. So Fight for them and fight for you, because your spirit guides many more than you think…"_

If there was ever a time when she was so touched the dragoness could not remember because now it felt like she was living pure spirit. 'What the hell was I thinking?' she growled.

" **I do believe you were actually thinking about giving up." **Her Inner said.

Her jade eyes burned with determination as she sprung to her feet, "I know, and I cant believe I even thought I could." She whispered, but a moment later the doubt vanished again. "But we have to keep trying!"

The cheery image of Naruto passed before her eyes, "We're going to fight for Naruto, because he never gives up no matter what! I'm not going to back down, I'll find a way!"

She smiled with courage, and felt her spirit literally set on fire. Chakra set aflame engulfed her entire body in warmth, and it only fueled her more. She felt pain among this but ignored it because only one thing was on her mind – that she had to keep fighting and fight she did.

* * *

><p>Sakura opened her Jade eyes, and found she was still staring into Orochimaru's Saffron orbs. The will to fight flooded her senses again, and like an enigma her body became swallowed in the minty flames of her chakra. She rose to her feet, but neither beast moved an inch otherwise.<p>

She gave him a toothy grin, "Surprised?" she snarled, and for a moment relished in the utter shock and disbelief that flashed across his face.

Her Inner self snickered, "**You should be!" **

Sakura growled lowly, and allowed her burning hot breath to snap him out of his stupor. She wouldn't want her dear Oji-San to miss this after all now would she? "You will never break me Orochimaru. I will never give in, never give up, and never stand down because I have the one thing you don't have. I have people who believe in me, people who would die to protect me, and people who love me."

Still frozen the Sannin hissed, "love is a weakness, and others will only get in the way of your goals." She laughed at him, her voice held no hint of doubt.

"That, Oji-San is why you will never really, truly, be strong. You don't even know what your fighting for anymore do you? I have something to fight for, someone to die for, and myself to never back down for. That's why I win." She said, her jade eyes burning holes in his.

Sakura smiled as she reared back, her body set afire with her chakra. A feeling of righteous power flowed through her veins as she charged down and before Orochimaru could snap out of his shock enough to move she had struck him.

The Snake Sannin was sent flying back several yards. She had struck him across the chest with her fiery claws, no jutsu of any kind but pure, raw power. Sakura sprung towards Orochimaru as he got up, and lowered into a defensive crouch.

Orochimaru threw his head back and laughed, one arm clutching his bleeding abdomen and the other hung limply at his side. "I guess I have underestimated you little dragon." He hissed, "Forgive me, but I am going to have to cut our little meeting short. Though don't worry we will meet again-"

Her eyes narrowed in anger as she flared the severely depleted chakra she had in warning, "Don't even think about running away Orochimaru!" she snarled.

"And when we do, be prepared because there is no such thing as second chances." And in an instant his body was engulfed in flames and gone before the blink of an eye.

"**Coward!"** Her Inner self shrieked, shaking a fist at the retreating smoke Orochimaru left behind.

Sakura snarled, "Of course he would run! He just didn't want to believe I had landed a hit!" the fire died, and she found herself with a feeling of accomplishment.

"_I may not have been able to kill him, but I proved that he couldn't make me give up and that is just as good as winning. Don't you think?" _She thought.

Her inner laughed. **"Sure! As long as we kick his slimy ass to the devil in the end who cares?"** and Sakura sweat dropped before rolling her eyes.

"_Sure Inner, whatever."_ She said, trying to ignore the intense fatigue that was hitting her hard now.

"**Hey, aren't we forgetting something?"** Inner asked.

Sakura's eyes flew wide open, pain and fatigue pushed aside. _"Shit! The boys!"_

* * *

><p>Sakura stumbled through the Forest of Death, two, limp forms swayed with her hobbled gait as they hung from her gentle jaws. Her breath came in sharp, ragged gasps. A result of the broken rib that was currently to close to puncturing her lung for comfort.<p>

She stopped and let her weary eyes search the clearing, _"This place looks about as good as it's going to get. What about you Inner?"_ she thought.

Her Inner snorted, **"First off, I am you Dumbass. Second off, I don't really have a choice do I?" **the alter ego retorted.

Sakura chortled painfully, "_Nope, not really." _Her Inner self rolled her eyes before growing silent again, allowing her Outer self to limp toward their choice of shelter tonight - a hollowed out mass of tree roots.

She quickly settled down inside the cave and thought, _"Better than sleeping outside, I guess."_ Sakura yawned, sleep's hold on her consciousness already strong. She cast a drowsy glance at Sasuke and Naruto.

She had treated them earlier as best she could with her _(very) _limited knowledge of medical chakra. Much to her delight the dragoness had managed to bring down both their fevers and heal their bruises.

Sakura cringed as she saw Sasuke's curse mark. _"Yuck, that is one nasty bruise."_ She thought, grimacing.

Her inner laughed, **"Hate to break it to you '**_**oh smartest Kunoichi of her generation.'**_** But you've got one too."**

Sakura instantly found herself staring at a nasty looking patch of tattooed, ivory fur. _"Nobody asked you, 'oh opposite of Outer-Chan'." _She snapped, and then quickly tore her eyes away from the _'gross'_ sight.

Her eyelids drooped, and Sakura unconsciously brought her _'boys'_ closer to her. Gathering them with her tail so that they rested against her ribcage- the part that wasn't cracked.

A low, groan of exhaustion escaped her lips and she cradled her head between her paws, much like Akamaru. _"How the hell did we get into this fine mess?"_ she thought somewhat amused.

"_No matter, I'm sure we'll make it out of this hellhole. We're Team 7! No, we're a family and family sticks together."_ Her lips unconsciously curled into a grin.

"_I know we'll make it, and we'll make it together. Sasuke… Naruto… you aren't the closest thing I've got to family, you are my family and I'll be damned if I give up on you now. You're part of my Kazoku."_

" '_Kazoku' means family – no one gets left behind, and no one is ever forgotten."_

* * *

><p>END NOTE:<p>

So?

How was it? Ya I know I skimped you on the fight scene but It was horrible the first like twenty times I wrote it! Anyways PLEASE REVIEW ME!

It takes a lot of work to write these and when you guys review, you feel amazing because someone took their time (no matter how small) to tell you what they thought. Meaning, you touched them close enough that they cared, and that's all us writers are ever trying to do ne? p.s. that last line in the chapter was a play on the line from Lilo & Stitch in case you were wondering :)

ANYWAY!

Heres the poll again!

Who should Sakura end up with?

GAARA

NEJI

ITACHI

Please REVIEW me your answers!

Until next time!


	8. The next legacy

Ohayo Minna-San!

Okay, Okay, I know, but please don't shoot me! I have changed accounts and I am now known as Find~A~Way~Today. And, I haven't necessarily stopped writing this story, just given it an unimaginable facelift, tummytuck, and some major work to the plot.

So, IF YOU WANT TO READ THE RE-VISED VERSION (It's much better I swear) LOOK FOR THE STORY TITLED…

**勇気 ****COURAGE**

there you will find my completely re mastered story. I would REALLY appreciate it if you went ahead and checked it out, and maybe even reviewed it, please? If you guys review saying you don't like the new one then I'll continue with the old one! Swearsies!

Until next time…


End file.
